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“He presumes to claim Cassia’s hand as well.” Lio’s fangs were ready to unsheathe.
Hoyefe studied Flavian’s portrait again. “I don’t see the problem. He looks like a fun choice for a threesome.”
Solia pinched the bridge of her nose, dousing a small flame. “And it’s already legalized? Kyria’s tits.”
“Language, Princess!” Kella scolded her with a wicked grin.
The more strongly Solia reacted, Cassia only became more composed. Lio recognized the telltale signs of his Grace going on the defense. The rigid spine. The cool tone.
They had just set foot in Tenebra, and she was already transforming back into Lady Circumspect.
Lio hated this place.
Cassia ran a hand calmly over Knights’ back. “It was hardly my idea, but when the king and Flavian’s father betrothed us, I was handed nettles and did my best to make nettle tea.”
Nettle tea. That was how she described her onetime plan to actually marry Flavian and become Queen of Tenebra.
Cassia set aside the map pins. “We can use this to our advantage.”
Her words put Lio back in a courtyard of white roses in Orthros, where he had offered her everything, and she had told him she would doom them to her political union with Flavian.
“Nothing about Flavian is an ‘advantage,’” Lio bit out.
Cassia’s hand slid into his then, small and strong and dear. “I think releasing him from the betrothal will be a prospect we can use to tempt him.”
Lio tightened his hand around hers. “Last time you spoke to him, he had every intention of marrying you.”
“So much has changed. I fear the greatest threat now will be a betrothal between him and Solia. Many will see such a marriage as the ideal solution to the contested succession.”
Solia laughed out loud. “As if I would ever take a lapdog like him for a husband.”
Lio wanted to suggest an eagle instead, but he doubted reminders of Tendo would endear him to his Grace-sister at the moment.
“There is some hope he has come to his senses,” Cassia said. “If we can persuade him to marry the woman he loves, it would be extremely useful.”
“Which woman?” Solia asked. “I dare say he has loved half the females in Tenebra. Although love has little to do with what’s in his breeches.”
Hoyefe sighed. “He’s no fun after all.”
“He stopped chasing skirts a few years ago,” Cassia said, “when Lady Sabina of Hadria made him her conquest.”
“This Sabina sounds like a capable woman,” Kella mused.
“She is,” Cassia assured them. “Unfortunately, she’s Lord Hadrian’s daughter.”
“Sabina and Flavian?” Solia was laughing again. “She can do better. But I suppose I can see my old friend making him her lapdog.”
“If they offer to solve the feud for you,” Cassia said, “I suggest you encourage it.”
“I’m more interested in encouraging alliance marriages with Imperial noblemen,” Solia said. “We shall see if any Tenebran lady’s fascination with Flavian survives their encounters with more civilized men. In any case, Flavian will have to do without the crown, your hand, and mine.”
“It is no trivial task to dissolve a betrothal.” Lio had no illusions this was a minor inconvenience when they were trying not to antagonize Flavian, who was nearly king. If he could think of half a dozen ways it could cause political problems, he was sure Cassia could think of a dozen.
She said nothing, but she also had no clever reply. A silent admission he was right.
“I cannot disagree.” Rudhira gripped Lio’s shoulder in sympathy. “Do not misunderstand me. Cassia’s betrothal is an injustice in Hesperine eyes. But Tenebran morals being what they are, if Orthros’s ambassador romances a mortal lord’s betrothed, it could cause retaliation against our Hesperines errant. You two will need to be discreet until the betrothal is resolved.”
Lio could not have borne the admonition from anyone else. But he could not argue with this wisdom coming from Rudhira, who had thoroughly disregarded Tenebran morals in mortal women’s arms for centuries.
