“I don’t think we can stop her,” Queen Cara declared. “She stepped into a critical moment, placing herself in danger, and came up with a solution to buy us time. Really, she did better than any of us.”
Sol looked back at the princess. He had not expected her mother to be the first to support her.
Meena had a small smile on her face.
Sol thought she deserved it. Her action had been brave and resourceful.
“This is not the proper place for this discussion.” King Frederich stepped from the dais.
The rest of the family followed him, their voices covered by the sound of their footsteps.
“You came here to listen to what your family said of you?” Sol asked.
Meena shrugged, turning to him. “So you heard everything?”
Sol nodded.
“What do you think?” she asked. She bit her lower lip as she looked up at him.
Sol felt his throat tighten. He knew from experience that if he opened his mouth, ‘no’ was the only word he’d be capable of saying. And looking into the anxious eyes of the woman in front of him, he could not bring himself to immediately deny her request.
“I know this is sudden,” she said, filling the silence. She began to inhale through her nose. She kept inhaling until her entire body stretched taller. “And ... I know it is uncomfortable and awkward.” She spoke more quickly as she went on. “It’s not an actual proposal. Well, I mean, I am proposing that we wed, but it would only be a counterfeit marriage. We would have a big wedding so everyone—especially the councilor—believed it, and we would pretend to be madly in love.” She looked at her hands.
Sol’s frown deepened. His racing heart had calmed of its own accord and he wanted to believe it was because he’d willed it. Surely he was not so weak that her words were having any sort of effect on him.
The princess inhaled again, turning her face away from him. “It would be in name only, of course. For the sake of your people and mine.”
Sol crossed his arms, instinctively leaning away, spacing his feet just a small bit further apart so his center of balance was lower. Not that he expected her to physically attack him, he just felt more in control when he was prepared for whatever might come at him. He had to refuse this. He didn’t want to refuse it. He didn’t want to agree to it.
She was too beautiful to be marred by his callousness.
He pressed his foot against the floor below, trying to find an outlet for his tensed up energy. Her beauty had nothing to do with it.
She was spoiled.
Naive.
Immature.
Loud.
“This is absolutely not something you have to do,” the princess continued. “It was just the only way I could think to get you inside the fortress to complete your mission as soon as possible. I did tell the councilor that we would be spending our wedding trip at the fort. That made him believe that Iseldis still trusts—or more like fears—Chendas, but it also gives you a chance to have full access to the fort. If you were my husband, no one would know it wasn’t real, and you could be shown anything you asked to see. But you already knew that because you heard it the first time I said it. I’m talking too much.”
He noticed her hands were moving rapidly, or at least her fingers were. Each thumb was rapidly touching the fingertips of their respective hands in quick succession, bouncing back and forth in each direction. The knowledge that she was nervous loosened the tension in his chest.
Brown. Her eyes were a soft, dark brown. He could see them now in the dim light of the window to the great hall.
He would not give in to this weakness. He knew better than to follow something as fleeting as a feeling. He clenched his jaw, squeezing his teeth together in anger at his body for giving in to such weakness.
“I’m sorry,” she broke the moment of silence, dropping her eyes to the ground. “It was a foolish suggestion. We’ll tell the Council the wedding has been called off and find another way to get you into the fort.”
She leaned away as she walked around him toward the door.
Sol turned after her. If he let her leave, he would never find the courage to ask her to reconsider.
“It is not a foolish suggestion,” he finally blurted out.
The door was halfway open. She stopped.
