“And this also isn’tA Thousand and One Nights. You’re not going to be able to tell him stories and keep him from doing what it is homicidal maniacs do.”
She decided to ignore her brother’s hysterics. She’d already reasoned out all of this. She’d been going over the logistics of an alliance between their countries for the past year. She’d first made contact with King Lucian six months ago, via email, and while he was difficult and mercurial she didn’t think he seemed like a psychopath.
Though, maybe good psychopaths hid it well. She couldn’t know for sure, and she felt it didn’t benefit her to be complacent, but if she really felt that she was signing herself up for murder she wouldn’t be doing it.
She believed him, ultimately, that what he wanted was an alliance.
Alabria was isolated, had very few alliances with anyone, and would make an excellent trade partner and military ally.
It was just that Lucian wanted marriage in exchange for those things.
She was a good negotiator. She always had been. She could think of no reasonable excuse to deny him what he was asking. There would have to be a better political prospect on the table, and currently, there wasn’t.
So she’d agreed to the marriage.
It was signed. Notarized. Official.
Onyx’s objections to it meant nothing.
Legally.
They meant something to her personally. But what she wanted personally wasn’t the feature here.
She was a princess. With that came an obligation to duty and legacy. That was what mattered to her.
“The agreement that he sent over is very reasonable, and does not have a hint of homicidal ideation. The fact of the matter is, this is a great proposition, a boon for our country, and you know it.”
“I don’t like it. In fact, I would like to forbid you from doing it.”
“Don’t. We agreed that I wasn’t going to be treated like I was inconsequential because I was younger, and a woman. I am one of your key political strategists and have been for years. I am not your spare, Onyx.”
“Of course not. You never have been.”
“Then let me do this. Alabria is the gateway to the Jewel Belt of the Mediterranean. Being able to move through that route freely would change the economy of our country. Alabria is bigger than we are.Heis more powerful. I know you don’t like to admit that there is any man on earth more powerful than you, but there is a point where ego becomes foolishness.”
His lip curled, his offense apparent. “This is not about my ego, it is about your safety.”
It was only then she let herself look at Andrei. His eyes burned bright with a sort of black flame that made her feel a world of things she didn’t want to feel. That made her feel…
There was regret in taking this marriage offer, of course. There were so many things she hadn’t done. So many things that she wanted that… They were impossible, and they always would be.
There was, in addition to regret, relief.
Relief that she would get the distance she’d never been able to manage before. Relief that she would be safe fromthis. The tyranny of desiring what she couldn’t have.
Even though her brother loved her very much, she would always have had to make a union that mattered politically. Always. She could understand why he was opposed to this, but even if it wasn’t King Lucian, it would be another king here or there, a noble, a prince. Someone who could provide a beneficial alliance to Basilia.
“What are your thoughts on the matter, Andrei?” Onyx asked.
Of course he would ask Andrei. His adviser. The chief of his guard. His best friend.
Andrei shifted. “I don’t like it. She could be putting herself in danger. I will not allow that.”
“You are not in charge of me,” she said. “Your job is only to protect me in the situations that I put myself into.”
“Andrei will go with you,” Onyx said.
“Excuse me?”
