“I will let my equal explain what shethinksshe is doing.”
The silence pressed like a weight.
Amerei only stood taller.
The fire crackled in the hearth, loud as a shout, until Storne’s voice broke it.
“Dask, Amerei!” he thundered, thrusting his hand across the desk.
“The crown prince of Elváliev is ready to set aside his wife offifteen yearsto claim your hand. Do you grasp what that means?”
She didn’t flinch.
Storne drove his finger into the desk with each word.
“With Xavien comes the Royal Army of Elváliev. The war chest of Vykenra. Perhaps even the uniting of our two kingdoms. Tell me, Amerei—tell me how that is not enough for you to set aside whatever feelings you’ve kindled for a soldier whose wagesIpay.”
For a soldier whose wages I pay.
The words twisted in Viktor’s chest.
His jaw locked, but Amerei was already stepping into the fire.
“What it means,” she shot back, “is selling Casqadia’s sovereignty for Elváliev’s promises.”
She lifted her chin, eyes blazing.
“A prince who casts off the mother of hissevenchildren would cast off me just as easily.”
She shook her head, indignant.
“I won’t be another jewel in Xavien’s crown, another name for him to discard. I’d sooner be forgotten than claimed by him.”
Her voice was iron. Her gaze unbending. Viktor had never seen her more radiant. More fearless. And storm help him—more his.
He loved her so fiercely it hurt.
Storne leaned forward—voice low and cutting—hands pressed against the table.
“Zeporah showed more care for your station when she offered you to Ryvka Zelarhan than you do, bedding a soldier.”
Amerei turned toward Viktor, eyes never leaving Storne.
“Which of your soldiers crossed the desert to find me, until his body broke beneath the cost? Which of them took fire upon himself, burning alive to shield me in the Vykenraven—and still stood when he should never have risen?”
Her fingers closed around Viktor’s, firm, proud.
“There is no other,” she said, voice steady.
Her grip tightened.
“So do not dare call him just a soldier.”
At first there was only silence, the air between them thick with everything unsaid. Then Storne’s fist struck the desk.
“You would throw away the chance to do what is right for your people?”
He shoved forward the map beneath his hand.
