AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” I spluttered.
“You and I. We join as one.”
I must have misheard. Or the sun had made me delirious. “…What?” I asked again.
“Your joining with a warlord will legitimize you in this court. As a prince married to a warlord, Ogden will not be able to deny you a seat at his council.”
I laughed again, stunned, and a little alarmed. “Forgive me, but in the Court of Love we marry for love, not… whatever this is.”
“In War, we join for position,” he said. “And the Court of Love is gone.”
The idea was absurd. Nobles did not marry outside their courts; such matches would end in disaster. Not to mention the fact that while my court was relaxed when it came to same-gender couples, War did not look kindly upon two men joining. Fucking was fine, as far as I knew, but nothing more formal. War treated marriage like another battle to be won, or lost, and its goal was a child. More warriors for their battlements.
“It’s not about us,” Draven continued. “It’s about winning. If we can lure Razak from his court, he’ll be more vulnerable, and what better way than an invite to our joining ceremony? A refusal would look weak on his part. He’ll come, and as you say, we might have an opportunity to hold him to justice for all those who perished at his hand.”
Yes, having Razak leave the safety of his homeland would be the only way to get to him. And he’d do more than attend our joining ceremony—he’d bring Lark. Because he’d know it would hurt me. Once inside War’s palace, he’d believe himself safe, because War did not stoop to subterfuge. But I did.
But marriage to a Lord of War, to Draven…? “War and Love are not the greatest of bedfellows…” I trailed off, the implication of other marital aspects heavy between us, then cleared my throat and hurried on. “I’m beginning to wonder if you’re not like the rest of your kin, Draven. Your suggestion to lure Razak here is more subtle a plan than I thought warlords capable of.”
He smiled. “And you are not all flowers and sunshine.” He touched the scar at his neck. “Both misfits in our courts.”
Lark too did not fit among his own kind. It appeared the three of us had that in common. Any more misfits, and we’d have our own court; a Court of Fools, perhaps. A prince, a warlord, and a jester.
“Think on it,” Draven said.
The idea of joining made political sense, but my heart recoiled. “Don’t you one day want to join with someone you care for? You… had a son?” I’d heard he’d had a young child who had died but knew no more than that, or even who the mother was. Nobody seemed willing to discuss it, least of all Draven. Not even a few bottles of wine had loosened his tongue on his past—I had tried.
“That time has passed,” he said stiffly.
“What would you get from our partnership?”
Draven’s slow smile brightened. “A prince.”
CHAPTER20
Arin
“This is very unusual.”Ogden stood behind his chair and gripped its back under thick fingers. The sweep of gold under his eyes shimmered under flickering torchlight. It was night, and the air breezing through the open arches, windows, and walkways had cooled, making the king less irritable.
Draven and I stood before him. Our proposal had been written and lay on the table in front of the king. All he had to do was sign it, thus granting us permission to wed.
“War and Love? I’m not sure what to make of it,” the king mused, then came out from behind the table and studied us both.
We were alone; there were no council members or even guards. Not that any guards were needed when the king himself had an axe strapped to his back.
“Of course, this would give you both a seat at this very table and a place in my court. Draven, can you not find a female to fuck? Although—” The king squinted at me. “—he does have womanly looks. Yet he’s without the necessary equipment for childbearing.”
I rolled my lips together and withstood the king’s demeaning appraisal.
“Whereas you are a fine lord, of good breeding stock!” Ogden slammed his big hand down on Draven’s shoulder, and while Draven wasn’t small, the king still loomed over him. “Find a prestigious female to wed and fuck him on the side,” he muttered, not quietly enough.
“I am a prince of the shatterlands—the Prince of Love,” I blurted. “Not a whore to fuck ‘on the side.’”
Ogden smirked. “You’re a fiery one, not like your father at all. Or the rest of your pretty court.” He scooped up the written proposal and studied it.
Draven glanced at me and gave a half-hearted shrug. It was hard to tell if this was going well or not. Everything sounded like an argument here.
“Your proposal, little Prince of Love, will give you status, and it puts you in my court, in power.”
