“We’ll find Broderick.” She rested her head on his shoulder while watching the black cat slink through the rosebushes, barely more than a shadow. “When your father passes, do you think Valenden will make a play for the crown?”
Rangar gave a harsh snort. “Not Val. He has no ambition for the crown.”
“It’s hard for me to believe that, when so many others would kill to be king.”
“Is it?” He cocked an eyebrow. “You yourself just gave up a crown.”
“I have my eyes set on another one.”
Rangar combed his tangled hair back off his face as he sat up. He explained, “Val and our mother were very close. They both had an inclination toward excess and dark thoughts, but she was able to overcome her shortcomings. She kept Val on the right path when she was alive, so when she died, he was lost. He told our father he wanted to relinquish his place in the line of succession. Without our mother’s guidance, he didn’t trust himself to make good decisions. And there’s the issue of progeny, too. Val was reckless with his affairs—a disease left him unable to have children. That alone technically invalidates him from being king, though, of course, there would be ways around that if Val so wished.”
“What ways?”
“There are many orphans in the Baersladen.”
Bryn lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “You mean he’d pass off an orphan child as his own blood? A false heir?”
Rangar chuckled lightly. “Bryn, that kind of thing has been happening throughout every kingdom for years. If not an orphan, then there are other ways for a wife to become pregnant by someone who isn’t her husband and pass off the child as his.”
“He wouldn’t mind another man siring a child on his wife?”
“Val? He’d probablypreferit.”
Bryn huffed a deep breath. “And yet, despite all that, he’s still older than you, which puts him next in line. Even if Val swears now that he doesn’t want to be king, we don’t know who might try to whisper in his ear, just like what happened with my own brother. Advisors could try to manipulate him. Even turn the two of you against each other.”
Rangar seemed unconcerned as he plucked another piece of grass from her hair. “Our father taught us the strength of family. For all the times Val’s follies have tested my patience, nothing can break my bond with my brother.”
Bryn’s own rocky family history made her doubt his words, and yet it was true that the Barendur family had always stood united. Rangar’s father and brothers had risked their lives to save her from the siege solely due to the belief that, as Rangar’s Saved, she was part of their family. Trei had even sacrificed his own future with Saraj to marry her to keep the kingdoms safe. He had even died for his family.
“I hope you’re right,” she murmured. “The Baersladen will need its two remaining princes united.”
Rangar said evenly, “The Baersladen will need its new queen, too.” He reached into his pocket and took out the engagement ring with the maiden rose stamped into the metal band. Taking her hand, he slid the cool circle around her finger. For a moment, they both admired it glinting in the moonlight.
Bryn swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. She toyed with Rangar’s ring as she said, “Are you so certain the Baer people will accept a foreign-born princess?”
“They already have.” Rangar took her hand to keep her from nervously twisting the ring. “When I saved your life, you became part of my family, and thus part of the Baersladen. My people have the same beliefs I do about thefralenbond. In any case, you’ve already proven yourself to have what it takes to thrive in our lands. A prim Mir princess spending days hiking through mud to find a single lost lamb told them everything they needed to know.”
She studied their entwined hands but still bit her lip in doubt. “And you . . . Areyouready to be king when your father passes?”
Rangar didn’t answer right away. His eyes drifted to the headstones of the fallen Mir royalty from the past centuries. Finally, he said, “I always thought Trei would rule. It never felt possible that anyone but him would sit on our throne. He prepared for it his entire life.”
She squeezed his hand. “You prepared for it, too.”
He barked a laugh. “In name, perhaps. I was required to learn history and politics just the same as my brothers, but I always thought I would serve my kingdom in a different way. My father intended for me to be captain of the Baer army.”
“Captain of an army and king of a kingdom aren’t so different.”
His dark eyes found hers as he searched her face with a flicker of amusement.
“What?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious, checking her hair for more grass.
He cupped her cheek. “I’m lucky to have you, Bryn. I wanted this for so long. You. A woman to go through life with. Someone to promise me that I won’t fail as king, when I doubt myself.”
She placed a gentle hand on his chest. “You’ll be the greatest king the Baersladen has ever seen, Rangar Barendur.”
The black cat wound over to them and purred as it nuzzled its head against Rangar’s side. He stroked the cat in amusement. “Baer lore says black cats are a sign of good luck.”
She smiled. “Mir tradition claims they’rebadluck.”
