She nodded, biting her lip, wrapping her robe around her nightdress more tightly.
“Are you warm enough in here?”
“I am. Um. Thank you. Thank you for all your help in suggesting ladies-in-waiting. I got your list, and I very much like the people you mentioned. Lady Arendale’s daughter and Lady Somerlynn’s niece will be my attendants at the wedding. Nalar is putting them in dark blue dresses. And, er—my parents loved the dinner. They like their lodgings. My mother was so excited to be given a gown and to have a fitting, and to have Letty and Laren promise to do her hair up in pins and jewels in the morning.”
“Ah! Ah, yes, I have your crown. I will put it on you at the wedding, after the vows. It is white gold, diamonds, and opals. I hope you like it. If you don’t—”
“I will love it.”
Girion nodded. Hummed. Paced.
“What is it?”
“I think your parents liked me and did not think I was some cruel beast, luring or forcing you away. Buying your cooperation.”
“My father adores you. He is marveling over what a fine son-in-law he has acquired. He has been bragging to the point that he is becoming insufferable in our settlement, which is why it is good that Cole’s parents have offered to show them around the city and even take them on a day trip to Caledon Hollow to see the old ruins. They’re very happy—and now our neighbors back home will have a break from Father’s yammering.”
Girion chuckled and stepped closer. “Jocasta... You do not think I bought you? Or bribed you? You thought we made a fair alliance for our mutual good?”
“What? Yes, of course!” Jocasta stepped closer to him.
“And you do not mind that I am older? And have this ugly scar?” He tapped his face with a wince.
“It’s very attractive. Heroic. Your hair is such a beautiful color. Like snow and silver met in moonlight,” Jocasta reassured, lightly touching his braid. “So very handsome,” she murmured.
His hand came to catch hers and hold it tight. "I heard ugly words today—from ugly people.”
“The Foxes, no doubt?”
“Not all Foxes are like them. They are the exception, not the rule.”
“What was said?”
“That they think I chose a human bride to appease the humans who are likely frustrated with the conditions the kingdom has started to experience.”
“You picked a mage. It would not matter, human or shifter, as long as I had magic.”
“That was the start—it is not the finish. I picked you. I see now that I picked you, dear Jo, for yourself as much as for your power. For how you use it. How you use every bit of yourself, as a whole.” It was his turn to stroke her tamed waves and curls, currently braided and hanging down over her shoulder. “I am grateful and glad that tomorrow is our wedding day.”
“Me, too.” She nodded and smiled, eyes suddenly full. Heart overflowing with a thousand thoughts.Tomorrow I am a bride, a wife, a queen—expected to save my land. This giant of a man is counting on me. The more we are connected, the better things will be for Caledon. The more heirs we have, the stronger our kingdom will be. I’ll feel useful if I bear him a child. There is that. What if I fail in everything else?
“What is it? You asked, and now it is your turn to tell me.”
“What if all I succeed at is bearing your children? And what if I cannot even do that? There are women, you know, who are barren.”
“And men who are barren, too. We’ll find out, one day.”
“Soon. If you don’t dislike the idea, let’s find out sooner, rather than later, for if there are problems, I may be able to heal them, but not if I don’t know about them,” Jocasta blurted.
“I don’t object to the idea. But I don’t want you to feel rushed into something. I... Well, you know that some nobles feel entitled to go out and flaunt every law of man and morality, but a king or prince should not. That’s how one ends up with bastard heirs. So I am not impatient. I am not, er, missing what I’ve never had.”
Jocasta blinked. She somehow expected that a man who had lived with privilege and as a soldier would have had many bedfellows. Then again, some would say the same about poor wenches working alone on a fishing boat in a town full of cold, lonely men. “I have been propositioned many times. I have always rejected such offers. Firmly.” She cracked her knuckles, and Girion laughed.
“I will wait until my bride offers. I will not request,” he said with a flourish of his cape and an ostentatious bow.
“Oh, I didn’t mean that!” Jocasta blushed. The tumble of thoughts was narrowing to one very carnal, piercing thought the more time she was alone with Girion.Please ask. Please demand. Tell me it’s necessary for me to give in, to finally understand all these cravings, these aches that make me squirm, that make me hide in the sanctuary of the hot tub for longer than is strictly necessary.
“We will be expected to kiss tomorrow. It’s a sealing of the union. I suppose we don’t have to.”
