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I groaned. “Don’t I know it. I’ve already had the same conversation with Aleksi and Yiorgos. And they’ve apparently tried to intimidate Ren into calling the wedding off.”
“Good,” Val said, pleased, and I gave him a mock glare.
“I saidtried.”
“And I saidgood.”
“Stop it,” I admonished. “You should be happy for me.”
“For you, my manipulative little brother who has the whole continent twisted around his finger?”
Ren laughed. Mila nodded. I blinked innocently at them all. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit you don’t,” Valeri retorted with an amused snort. “How are we supposed to enforce Temarian laws of sodomy when one of our own family is marrying another man? Couldn’t you have at leastwarnedus before accepting Aratorre’s proposal?” He shook his head. “When his herald arrived in Delzerce with the news, mother had to make a pretty fucking hasty decision whether to disown you or support you, Nathanael.”
I was surprised she’d chosen the latter. Did that mean there was something to salvage of our relationship after all?
“It wasn’t Ren’s herald,” I said. “It was mine. I proposed to him.”
Val closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his mouth. “Ofcourseyou did.”
“Sooo,” my king prompted, glancing hopefully between him and my sister. “If Queen Zora is here, does that mean Temar is abolishing its sodomy laws? I know anexcellentlegislator who does a damn fine job of both drafting repeal legislation and being a pestering ass until it goes through.” Ren levelled a pointed look in my direction, unable to keep the affection from his expression.
“If that’s your way of asking if you’ll be allowed to share a bedchamber with my brother when you visit Delzerce, Aratorre, the answer is a permanent no,” Val retorted instantly, and then softened. “But maybe. I’d like to speak to Panarina while she’s here about changing the law in both northern countries simultaneously. That is, if she can make time for me.” His tone turned wry. “It seems my little brothers are developing a habit for sneaking around with foreign royals.”
I stared at him. “Yiorgos?”
Valeri snorted. “No, not Yiorgos. That man’s a fucking idiot.”
“Ah,” I said. That only left my second oldest brother. “Aleksi.”
“His wife died six years ago,” he reminded us, “and he hasn’t looked at another woman since. Except, apparently, Queen Astrid Panarina.”
“Not that either of them will admit it,” Mila added, and then shared a conspiratorial look with Ren that told me they’d both just made it their personal mission to extract those admissions – likely publicly – before this visit was over.
I wouldn’t be betting against the two of them, even facing off with Astrid.
“I’m not sure I want to imagine a Riehse Eshan where all three king consorts are Velichkovs,” mused Ren, pretending to shudder in horror. “The continent may just break apart with the weight of all that broodyscowling.”
“We don’t brood,” I said testily.
“At least I wouldn’t be alone in my torment,” he continued, ignoring me. “You’ll all be sure to keep me and both queens on our toes.”
“Prince Valeri?” Clementina had appeared behind me, the ring on her finger glinting in the candlelight as she curtsied to us all. Camila had proposed a month after I did, only their wedding hadn’t required over a quarter year of planning...as she’d smugly reminded me the day they’d said yes to each other. “Queen Velichkova is asking for you.”
Val pushed to his feet and followed the herald from the room.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said, sticking his head back through the doorway and settling his frown on me and Ren. “Aksinia, our royal seer? She said that I had to tell you both‘well done’and that it had‘worked out’. Zero context. Mean anything, or is it her usual nonsense?”
“Yes,” Ren said cheerfully, not elaborating. From his expression, I guessed it was less about him being an asshole and more about not wanting to explain Aksinia’s part in his escape from my sibling’s custody, or the terrifying prediction she’d made about the fate of the continent having rested on our shoulders.
In all honesty, I’d forgotten about that prophecy. Probably just as well, considering the stakes had already been high enough, but it didn’t seem as far-fetched as it once had to imagine how imminent war and destruction had been if Ren and I hadn’t done what we had. Not just unseating Welzes, but uniting Riehse Eshan and fixing some of its inequality and instability.
Not all of it: we couldn’t work miracles, as much as Ren frequently liked to accuse me of trying, but I hoped that where we led, others would follow.
“Let me see,” Mila coaxed. I frowned as she tugged at the hem of my shirt.
“See what?”
