“This is outrageous,” cried Hazan. “Kamran, you cannot consider it – It’s nothing more than a scheme, and he’d doubtless force her to consummate the marriage –”
“I wouldnever,” Cyrus cut in viciously. “Think what you will of me in all other aspects, but even I am not so unworthy as that. She is entirely safe from me.”
“You would put that in the oath?” Hazan was livid. “That you’re not to lay a finger on her?”
Cyrus tamped down his anger. Condemned as he was, he knew it unreasonable to expect others to assume he possessed even a shred of decency, but the accusation still rankled. “Yes. I’ll make it clear I won’t touch her unless she wants me to.”
Hazan looked disgusted. “As if such a scenario could ever exist.”
“Miss,” whispered the boy. “What doesconsummatemean?”
“Oh,” said Huda, her color heightening. “You need not worry about that for now. I’ll explain later.”
“But –”
Meanwhile, Kamran was studying Cyrus, his eyes shrewd and calculating. “What bargain did you make with the devil?”
Cyrus only glared at him.
“He refuses to say,” Sarra supplied. “I’ve asked him thousands of times, and he’s never admitted the truth.”
“I see.” Kamran did not look away from the southern king. “And how long would it take for you to be released from your contract?”
“I can’t be certain,” Cyrus answered. “A matter of months, perhaps.”
The prince took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as he processed this last statement. “Interesting.”
“No.” Hazan was shaking his head. “Absolutely not. This is a dangerous, open-ended ploy –”
“I disagree,” said the prince with immaculate calm. “In fact, I think it will do nicely for revenge.” He met Cyrus’s eyes. “You will die, she will inherit your empire, and then – I shall marry her.”
Hazan shrank back, so severe was his astonishment.
The others, too, were making various sounds of bafflement, but Cyrus was somehow deaf to this, blind to all but the chaos flaring inside his body.
The statement had struck him like a whip.
Unmoored, it took every bit of Cyrus’s self-possession to keep from displaying his horror.He’d not considered such a manipulative tactic on the part of the prince, and he should have.
“It will require significant patience on my part,” Kamran was saying, his eyes bright with triumph as he studied the king. “But then, I’m capable of extraordinary forbearance, especially for so great a reward.”
A great reward, indeed.
What a master stroke it would be – what victory – for the Ardunian to inherit the Tulanian empire. The northern and southern kingdoms had fought many historic wars over access to resources – and in particular, the Mashti River. Cyrus knew how desperate Ardunia had been for a direct line to fresh water, and this would resolve the empire’s greatest weakness in a single, peaceful move. No lives need be lost, no wars waged; Kamran would marry her and in the process marry the two nations, inheriting Tulan’s every valuable natural resource, including the riches of their densely magical mountains.
It would make Ardunia, as an empire, nearly invincible.
His heart pounding madly in his chest, Cyrus couldn’t believe he’d made such a misstep, and he couldn’t see how to fix it. Even with this grand offer on the table, Alizeh hadn’t committed to marrying him; if he were to retract his promise of Tulan, she’d surely refuse him.
It was a risk he couldn’t take.
Horrible as it was to think of losing his empire, Cyrus had comforted himself with the knowledge that he’d be handing it over to one such as Alizeh; he felt certain that, in his absence,she’d care for his people with unimpeachable compassion and justice. But to think that the Ardunian might benefit – might absorb his land only to plunder it, to use their precious resources in the pursuit of further expanding their empire –
“What makes you so certain she’ll marry you?”
Cyrus looked up sharply, shocked to discover that, of all people, it was his mother who’d come to his defense.
“Why would the girl choose to share a crown, when she could lead her own nation?” Sarra said, glaring at Kamran. “What need does she have of you?”
