She turned to him, the smoke in her eyes drifting like a slow fog. “My safety?”
“If you bear the title, it will make them second-guess their intentions.”
“How will it be any different? You offered your protection, and I was still attacked.”
The words rankled him because they were absolutely true.
“And had any of them survived,” he gritted out, “their fate would have been sealed. But you left none alive, tiny fiend.”
“Exactly. I can protect myself. So I fail to see the advantage of moving the union up. A queen in title only does not offer me any more protection than I have now.”
“It comes with the title itself,” he pushed. “Right now, you are simply my betrothed, but with the title… It’s not a lot, but it’s something,” he finally admitted. “We can get you an additional guard, or a different one entirely, if you wish for added protection.”
“No,” she said quickly. “I mean, one is more than enough, and Razik is fine.”
Razik is fine.
It took everything in him not to say something about that. Or her quick response to keeping the male around. If anything, he wanted this union moved up to make a point to everyone: she was his and no one else’s.
“When would it be moved to?” she asked after several beats of silence.
He winced internally, bracing himself for her reaction. “The next full moon.”
He watched her brow furrow as she mentally calculated. Then her eyes slowly slid back to his. “That is tomorrow night.”
“It is,” he agreed.
“You want this union to happen tomorrow,” she repeated.
“I do.” In a rush, he added, “The celebration can wait another moon cycle as planned. We can do things our own way.”
Something flickered across her features at the words. “Do things our own way,” she murmured, more to herself than him.
He nodded, forcing himself not to reach for her hand. “We do the union tomorrow night under the full moon. Then we have a full moon cycle to prepare for the kingdom celebration. You have more time to acclimate, but you are still afforded all the privileges of the title.”
“In title only,” she clarified.
“Yes, in title only.”
She rolled her lips, turning back to the horizon. “For how long?”
“It was already stated the union was eternal, Kailia,” he deadpanned.
“I mean how long will it be in title only?”
His brows shot up. He hadn’t been aware she wanted anything more than the title, considering he was coercing her into that to begin with.
Clearing his throat, he said, “That has to be a unanimous agreement of the advisory council and I.”
She looked at him, her beautiful features almost glowing in the spring sun. “Would you agree to it? Right now? If I agreed to move the union to tomorrow?”
He’d manipulated a lot of this, but he couldn’t lie to her. Not about this. “No, Kailia,” he answered. “I wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because these are my people. I took a vow to protect them, and I’m having to force you into doing that,” he said. “I cannot give you the power to rule over them if I’m having to force you to protect them.”
She nodded, appearing to mull that over. “So I need to be convincing in more ways than one,” she said.
