Thyra grinned up at him. Both of them were having too much fun embarrassing me.
My hands landed on my hips, and Thantrel rose, apparently taking pity on me.
“As much as I love hearing that I’m pretty, I’ll be going now.” He took Thyra’s hand from where it was draped over the edgeof the copper tub and lifted it to his lips. The kiss he deposited was soft and still, I looked away from the private moment. “Goodnight, Thyra.”
“Goodnight.”
Thantrel winked at me before leaving the suite. I held it together for three seconds after he shut the door before scurrying over to my sister.
“I cannot believe that just happened!”
“It’s not like we were doing anything. I was already buried in bubbles when I had Livia let him in. We were just talking.”
The way Thyra said it made me think they had. “Wait, has something happened?”
“Well, we’ve kissed a few times.”
My heart stopped. “How many exactly?”
“Three.”
“Three times!” I slapped her shoulder, spraying water and bubbles on the ground in the process. “Thyra, how dare you not tell me!”
She laughed. “I didn’t want you to get your hopes up, but it seems I’ve failed in that regard.”
“Why not?”
Was she not going to accept her mate? After kissing him?
I didn’t understand how that could happen. Vale and I had barely been able to keep our hands off each other when we thought our marriage was a sham and we had no star-blessed connection at all.
“Because of the deal with Lord Balik,” Thyra replied as one hand swirled the thick bubbles.
I made a wild gesture with my hands. “I realize now that I forgot to tell you this after our meeting with Lord Balik, but you need to know that Sian is gay.”
“Thantrel told me, but does that really matter? Royal and noble households expect what they expect, and why would Iwant to pass on the responsibility of marrying into a line to someone else? Someone who didn’t ask for it? We are the ones who asked for the alliance. If we live and have children, they should not pay for our choices.”
She had me there. And yet, I couldn’t let my sister not fulfill her mating bond if she wanted to do so. I took her hands. “I’m going to talk to Sian. Would you change your mind if he flat-out told you he didn’t want to marry you?”
Her eyebrows pinched together. “That would make things easier. Though I still wouldn’t feel wonderful about passing the responsibility to a youngling in the future.”
“That’s assuming we have any.” I let out a sigh, trying to be rational, though when I thought of having younglings with Vale, my musings always turned dreamy. One day, I wanted that. But one day wasn’t promised.
“The thing is, you have to live for now. We may win this war, but we also may not. And if we don’t, I want you to have experienced as much as you can.” I lifted my left hand, showed her the soulmate mark. “This is worth it.”
Her gaze trained on the snowflakes lining my finger, and she was quiet for a long moment before nodding. “I’ll think about it.”
Chapter 19
VALE
Ireached across the bed, only to find Isolde’s side of the bed was cold. Blinking my eyes open, I looked around the suite and found my mate across the bedroom, staring out the window.
“Force,” I whispered. “When did you wake up?”
“Not long ago,” she replied, her tone strained.
I sat up. “What’s wrong?”
