Even though Katrinka’s hair was more chestnut than onyx, it was easy to see how she’d been mistaken all these years for Maksim and Oleska’s daughter. With the matching glasses, Anton gave a false impression of similar facial features. And her springier curls seemed to match those of her adopted brothers and mother. Had Brahm chosen Barstus for her with this in mind? Or were the similarities a gift of the Light?
“What is it you are focusing on so intently?” Alexi asked in a subdued tone.
I turned to look at him, searching for signs of what kind of man he was. I had not enjoyed speaking to him last night, but I had been in a foul mood and utterly exhausted. Maybe I had been ungracious.
“Your mother,” I admitted. “She is beautiful.”
He smiled at my compliment, looking more like her than he had previously. His own hair was cut shorter than his brothers, his curly blond locks tamed somewhat at this stubby length. He wore a scaled bronze band for a crown that resembled a snake, the head positioned in the center of his forehead with an amethyst for its eye. Gray and purple were Barstus’s colors, and they considered themselves defenders of the Serpent’s Sea. Maksim wore a similar crown. And Queen Oleska wore a daintier bronze diadem with a larger amethyst in the center. It did not appear to be a snake.
“Thank you, Princess Tessana,” Alexi answered. “You compliment my father as well, as he chose her for her beauty.” He gestured around the table. “And her breeding.”
At just that moment, servants stepped forward to lift the covers of the breakfast dishes, revealing boiled sea snakes and stuffed octopi. I had to press fingers to my closed lips to keep from gagging. But I wasn’t sure if it was from the seafood or Alexi’s assessment of his parents’ marriage.
“So not a love match then?” I managed to ask while a servant cut the thick head of a sea snake off so he could offer me part of the body.
“You’re lucky,” Alexi told me while I watched in horror as the slice of flesh was deposited on my plate, spreading black ink across the width of it. “The neck is the best part.” I nodded and attempted to smile. “To your question, no, not a love match. I don’t suppose many of the royal houses are love matches.” He laughed at the absurdity. “They’re ruling kingdoms, after all, not frolicking through fields as love-sick youth.”
He was right. I knew he was right. But still, his utter disbelief in the possibility of love made me feel toward him what I felt toward the still bleeding sea snake turning everything else on my plate a chalky gray.
“My parents were in love,” I insisted. When it was clear he didn’t know how to respond because they were dead, I added. “Hugo and Anatal are in love. Very much so.”
He deftly sliced through an octopus tentacle, filleting it open as if he’d done it a hundred times before. I consoled myself and the poor octopus that at least if I ended up marrying this man, we would live in Elysia, where the food did not resemble the sea monsters of the deep.
Talking around a giant bite of tentacle, he said, “Maybe they have affection for each other now. But not when they first wed. How many royals do you know who have spoken to their bride or groom more than a handful of times before their wedding day? Not many.”
He had a point. Even still, I had known Taelon well before... well, when we were betrothed. My father had gone out of his way to include the Treskinats as often as possible because of our future nuptials and our countries' relationship.
Back when I wasn’t heir to a throne or future queen of the realm. Back when I was just a daughter to a king looking for solid allies. Back when Taelon had needed a smart match to help him rule his own kingdom. Back when it was expected to leave Elysia. Not sneak back in and demand to rule it.
Still, I had known even then that I’d been lucky with Taelon. I thought about Caspian as a child, throwing that shield at his older brother, hoping to kill him. My match could have been so much worse.
If my father had loved me any less, my whole life could have been void of emotion.
Alexi went on. “My point is when you are a king”—he inclined his head to me—“or even a powerful queen in your case, love is more of a curse than a blessing. The kingdom and the realm must come before everything else.”
He made a good point, but my heart still squeezed in my chest. I had not truly thought about love or loving someone else too often. There had been other things. But I did know what it was like to have a strong affection for someone else, the seedlings of love. And those feelings were important to me. But they did not overshadow the realm I wanted to rule.
He continued, nodding toward where Ravanna sat next to Maksim. “Take the Blackthorne queen, she chose her kingdom over her husband, and it has served her well. Blackthorne had never seen the power they wield today until she took the throne.”
I picked at a bite of sauteed mushaboom that had somehow managed to escape the salty ink of the sea snake. “Ravanna had a husband?” I gasped, keeping my voice low.
Alexi shot me an odd look. “How do you think she became queen? Until her, no kingdom had allowed a queen on the throne.” His voice dropped to a snide murmur. “Although now it appears it is common practice.”
I ignored his highhanded dig. Was this honestly how he sought to win my hand? I resisted an eye roll and said, “I do not know.”
“Blackthorne had been ruled by the Presydias since the Marble Wall was erected. It is said they’ve sat in power as long as the Allisands. So Ravanna marries, er, what’s his name. King, uh—”
“Mynot,” Ashka put in. I was surprised to find him listening at all.
“Yes, that’s right. Mynot. She’s from some powerful family from Blackthorne. Not nobles, but wealthy merchants or something. He’s seduced by her beauty and wealth. She wants power. So they marry. She’s determined to expand Blackthorne’s power and make them formidable in the realm. Mynot is content to be left alone and mostly ignored by the other kingdoms. She started to go to council meetings for him, throwing her weight and money around, using connections to move Blackthorne up the ranks. You know what I mean.” I did not, but he wasn’t exactly waiting for me to confirm or deny. “Well, Mynot finds out what she’s been doing and tries to regain his power. Tells her, she has to stay home while he deals with the council and whatever else.” He pauses to tear an impressive bite of tentacle off his fork with sharp teeth stained black from sea snake ink. “Then he dies.”
Next to me, Ashka makes a sound in the back of his throat while dragging his thumb across his neck. I flinch at the brutality of this child whose feet hardly dangle off the ledge of the chair he’s sitting in.
Alexi leans even closer. “Well, we can’t prove that she killed him of course. But that’s what everyone believes.”
“Everyone as in...”
“The rest of the council. Honestly, try to keep up. This is all common knowledge.”
