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Theodore cleared his throat. “I’d like to note that I see nothing in these contracts regarding your plans for Halla ascending to your throne when the time comes. Perhaps those details should be—”

“I made no mistake,” the empress snapped. A sneer crept over her face for a moment before she smoothed it. “Halla is not my heir.”

Theodore cocked his head. Even Lachlan shifted uncomfortably at my side.

“Forgive my assumption,” Theodore said. “If your only daughter is not the heir to your throne, then may I ask who is?”

It was Halla who answered in a meek but clear voice. “Our firstborn child will be.”

Theodore’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. His sharp stare cut between the empress and Princess Halla. “Very well.”

The bond in my stomach gave an ugly, protesting lurch.

Empress Nivala blew out a short breath and the air in the room seemed to clear.

“With all that settled, we have the timeline to discuss. The trip here was ghastly. We will skip the customary two months’ engagement and let the wedding take place in a fortnight.

I have no desire for Halla to sail home and back again. ”

Theodore stilled, save for his index finger that tapped the surface of the table.

The empress smiled and I thought the gesture akin to a dagger being slowly unsheathed. “Is there a problem?”

“I expected the customary two months’ engagement time,” Theodore said, remarkably calm, but my own stomach had fallen. “I cannot guarantee that a feast and ceremony will be arranged in only a fortnight. Guests will not be able to travel.”

“She has a dress. You have wine.” The empress shrugged. “You have a bed for consummating. You’re eager for this marriage, are you not?”

He was a marvel, his perfect austerity. The regal, unflinching command he had over himself. He offered up one quick nod. “Of course.”

Gods. The bond—my asinine jealousy—ignited something primal in me. The urge to drag Theodore away with me, to shred the contracts, to make it known he was mine, raced through my body like hot, pulsing blood.

“However,” Theodore said, with no timidity, “there are traditions—”

“You mistake my gentle tone, Theodore,” the empress said in a new, rougher voice. “I was not making a suggestion.”

Theodore froze. Lachlan straightened, as if on high alert, and I remembered Theodore’s mention of the might of her fleet and troops. The empress was an excellent ally and a nightmare of an enemy.

“Your Majesty.” Eftan spoke with diplomatic grace, and gave Theodore a nod that said you must.

Theodore cleared his throat. “I’ll be scarce before the wedding,” he said, “but I agree to a fortnight.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t certain that bleeding through my eyes and nose and mouth in a severing ritual was less preferable to this. The bond made the thought of Theodore marrying the princess feel more gruesome than having my guts pulled out through my navel. I needed to get to the Mage Seer immediately.

I poured more wine into my cup and the meeting droned on and on with clauses about legitimate and illegitimate children, trade tariffs, and haggling over what Halla’s queenly expenses would be.

And all the while the bond screamed a relentless no, no, no.

Finally, when I was certain the fizzing wine would do nothing to dull my misery, I reached across the table and swiped Eftan’s quill from where it lay, which earned me his menacing, silent glare.

I dipped the nib, scratched a note onto a piece of discarded paper, and slid it in front of Lachlan.

He scanned it, then whispered, “Don’t you dare.”

“I can’t do this,” I whispered back. “It won’t kill us. He’ll be fine.”

“You can last a few more hours. You must.”

“No, I mustn’t. I agreed to three of the asshole’s conditions. This was not one of them.”

But going to the Mage Seer, learning of my mother, and having our bond severed was. I rose abruptly, and the entire table’s attention snapped to me.

I curtsied. “I beg your forgiveness, but I am too ill to stay any longer.”

“Oh,” said Princess Halla, with a dainty hand at her throat. “I do hope you feel better.”

“Thank—” I paused. I stared at her pale fingers, or rather, at the large, brilliant gray stone that hung around her neck, just above them. It was identical to the stone on my finger. “Your necklace,” I said, turning my ring so the gem was hidden on the inside of my palm. “It’s unusual. But lovely.”

That spring smile of hers reared again. “Oh yes. A spinel. They are only mined in Obelia. Very rare.”

“Very rare, indeed.” I curtsied once more and glanced to Theodore. “Please, excuse me, Your Majesty.”

“Imogen, you cannot leave.” His gaze burned. “ Stay. ”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” I set a hand to my stomach, right over where our bond sat in screaming revolt. “It hurts too much. I have to go—”

“For a stroll through the garden.” Lachlan shot up and grabbed my arm. “Fresh air will do you good.”

I tried, unsuccessfully, to remove his hand from me. “I’m not strolling through the garden, Commander.”

“Yes,” Lachlan said, tugging me around my chair. “You are.” He gave Theodore, who had gone still with blank-faced anger, a meaningful look. “In fact, I suggest we all take a stroll. Give your fiancée a tour of your favorite garden, Your Majesty. We’ve been at it for hours. A break would be wise.”

The sun was high and blinding. It made the flowers, pink and red and yellow, glow like flames.

Lachlan held my arm firmly to his side as we strolled down the gravel path behind Theodore and the princess.

“You can loosen your grip, Commander.” I watched as Halla glided through the garden with a hand extended, her elegant fingers brushing the flowers’ soft petals as she passed. “I’m not going to run away.”

“I’ve never met a less convincing liar.”

“I was in a state. The thought of them…” I gestured frustratedly at their backs. “This Godsdamned bond needs to be severed.”

Lachlan gave me a suspicious stare but said not a word.

Theodore and Halla slowed to take in a wide, gurgling fountain at the center of the garden, and we had no choice but to follow suit.

The water danced and sluiced over the sculpted muscles and splayed wings of three stoic Sirens.

Light glittered through its spray, through the drips that fell from the tips of their elbows and feathers.

Halla looked on it in wonder and, slowly, she made her way toward me. “Lady Nel, did you grow up here? What a childhood it must have been. This place is like something from a storybook.”

Theodore and Lachlan stood by, tense and silent, waiting for my answer.

“Oh no, Your Highness.” My mouth opened and shut as I searched for a suitable answer. “I… I grew up in the north.”

The princess nodded. “I expect the north here is not as cold as the north that I am used to.”

I knew little of Varya’s north but was certain there were no ice-laden valleys there. “Much warmer,” I said through a reluctant smile. The princess was perfectly lovely. She and Theodore seemed well matched. A pang shot through me, beneath my ribs.

“I do hope you’re feeling better,” she said, voice melodic and light. “It was a long while to be in a chair in that room.”

“It was,” I agreed. “Your marriage contracts are rather thorough. Have you always been so detailed in your planning, Your Highness?”

“Oh, that’s all my mother.” A faraway look filled Halla’s blue eyes. She dipped her fingers into the fountain’s rippling water, flicked the droplets from the tips. “She’s a plotter through and through.”

“She seems to have thought of everything.” I sounded worn, creeping toward annoyance. I forced a wider smile and hoped it was a convincing mask.

“She certainly has.” Halla lowered herself to sit on the edge.

She spoke quieter, a strand of emotion running through her voice.

“I’m sure you won’t understand, but it’s rather a shock.

To leave one’s home and come to a new one.

Where nothing is familiar and there are no friends or sights or smells that you know.

I’m grateful my mother—and His Majesty—have taken my comfort into such consideration. ”

She gave Theodore a grateful look and he inclined his head in a regal bow. The swell of hurt I felt then did not come from the bond. It was true envy.

“Lady Nel, what can you tell me of the king?” She leaned in as if conspiring, but she never met my eye. Her gaze remained on Theodore, lashes fluttering, smile bright. Bloody fucking Gods. She was flirting. “I suspect you know him better than most, having grown up together as cousins.”

I swiped my brow, laughed uncomfortably. “His Majesty and I were hardly close.”

“I can’t believe that. He chose to bring you to meet me. He must care for you, don’t you, Your Majesty?”

Theodore looked to his shining boots. “Of course.”

“See.” Halla stirred the air with her hand, coaxing me on. “Tell me all you know.”

Lachlan scratched at his neck, his eyes round with a look that seemed to say Good luck.

Buying time to think, I lowered myself onto the fountain’s edge and peered up at Theodore. “Only nice things?”

The question seemed to catch him off guard. He smiled, almost nervously. It was full and dimpled and white, and a jolt of admiration rocked through me. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

A deep breath, a slow exhale, and I met Halla’s gaze.

“He’s very rich.” She laughed like I’d made a joke.

“And…” I thought and thought and what came was the memory of his guiding hand at my back, his fingers at my chin, his handkerchief brushing over my wet cheeks.

“He’s very observant. And caring, when he chooses to be. ”

My gaze moved to Theodore of its own accord. To the even, but suddenly warm, look that had begun to fill his eyes. His arms were clasped behind his back and the sun accentuated the striking lines of his face and I felt so compelled to speak that I could not stop myself.

“He’s gentle,” I blurted, eyes locked with his. “And when you feel like you’ve been whipped and thrown, if you let him, he will be an anchor.”

I broke our gaze and the four of us fell silent, listening to birdsong, and trickling water, and I felt quickly overwarm. I offered Halla a shrug. “That’s all I’ve got for you.”

“That’s quite a lot,” she said, with a smile in her eyes. “Thank you.”

From somewhere behind the tall blooms, Eftan shuffled over the gravel and stopped in our midst. “The empress has requested we resume work on the contracts. She awaits you inside, Your Majesty.”

Theodore nodded, and all of them started back toward the palace. I remained seated on the edge of the fountain, stomach sunk and twisting. Theodore stopped. “Lady Nel, shall we?”

“No, Your Majesty.” I straightened under his scrutinizing stare. “I don’t think I shall.”

Those eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “Go on ahead,” he said to Lachlan and Halla. They left us, Lachlan with tight shoulders and Halla looking wholly unbothered, beside the fountain.

Theodore stepped toward me and loomed. “You have to come.”

“I can’t.” I set a fist over the pit in my guts. “This bond sets me into a panic when I have to sit there and listen to all that. And in this new life, in this new place, I will not be bent and mistreated. I need to get to the Mage Seer now. I need my prophecy—”

“Mistreated?”

“Yes.”

“No.” Theodore was resolute, his jaw set.

“What the hell do you mean, no ?” I stood and met his glower. “This was your plan all along. To separate and send me off.”

“That was before—”

“Before what ?”

He froze. Shook his head. “Before we knew this bond wouldn’t settle. Before we knew I was getting married in mere weeks.” He paced, back and forth, and I stared on at a loss for words. Then he stopped in front of me. “Come with me for the remainder of this meeting and I’ll go with you.”

Surprise shot through me. “To the Mage Seer?”

He straightened his coat uncomfortably and nodded.

“Another transaction, then?”

He flinched like I’d cursed, but that’s what it was. Another bargain. Another sacrifice so that I might receive a kindness.

“And besides, you can’t go with me. The empress is here. And your very pretty fiancée and those ridiculous contracts—”

A deep, remorseful crease wrinkled his brow. “I said I’d be scarce before the wedding.”

He had. I couldn’t help but wonder why he’d said it—how he’d known. “Still,” I argued, trying to keep my hair from blowing wild in the sea breeze, “they’ll feel slighted—”

“I’ll gift the princess some jewels. Set off some fireworks in the bay for her.”

I scoffed. “Of course. What woman wouldn’t be distracted by sparkly things—”

“Do you want me to go with you or not?”

“Yes,” I snapped.

“Then I’m going.” He was so still, staring at me just as he had when he’d quieted my tears before Ligea’s statue.

“Fine.” Even angry, I sounded too breathless, too caught off guard.

He dipped his chin. Swallowed hard. “Fine.” He turned from me and started toward the palace, but before he did so, I noted the flustered stain of color on his sharp cheekbones.

The way his breath sped. Little glimpses of feeling that he didn’t—or couldn’t—control.

He stopped, looked back at me, and spoke in a scraping voice.

“If you wish to remain in the garden, you may. I’ll still go with you. ”

Words wouldn’t come. Just a deep bloom of gratitude. I stepped onto the path that led toward the palace and gave an appreciative nod. “We should hurry back,” I said. “Duty calls.”