I repeat his exact words.
“You misheard. I said ‘I need to talk to my wife.’” Lorcan slung one arm around my shoulders. “You have one thing on your mind, Zosia.”
“That makes two of us.”
“True. We should plan a proper holiday. Back to Oceanside, since we can’t go off-island until we get our passport situation sorted out.” We lingered, reluctant to part ways again, clinging to this stolen moment in the middle of the day. A vacation does sound nice. I still haven’t recovered fully, though Saskaya and Raina aren’t badgering me about it anymore. Lorcan and I have been working our asses off for months. The press from the Knauss family’s trip was positively fawning. From my favorite clipping:
For a country on the brink of ruin only months ago, Auralia is rebounding fast. Led by a young princess whose initial missteps led to international condemnation, few believed the country could find its footing at all, much less re-establish governance, jump-start its economy and provide for the many orphaned children from the year-long battle. Princess Zosia Auralian is wise beyond her years and down-to-earth in her approach to leadership. Meeting her feels like visiting an old friend who just happens to live in a tumbledown old castle in the most beautiful country imaginable.
Cata would be so proud.
“You just want to visit the Ansi again,” I said loftily, tilting my chin upward. “Play with paint.”
Lorcan raised one eyebrow, and even though my body is still soft and hot from being with him, I wouldn’t mind going again. He has that much of an effect on me. Always has. I don’t stand a chance of resisting him; I never did.
“And you don’t?”
Surrender is much more rewarding, anyway.
I bit my lower lip. “After Midwinter? We can take Scarlett to see Raina and Tovian’s baby, and head south from there.”
“Let’s do it. Get you out of the castle.” He kisses my forehead. “A princess isn’t meant to be caged; she needs to stretch her wings.”
“Queen,” I reminded him, not that it matters. It’s sweet. My heart thrummed steadily in my chest as I inhaled his scent, reluctant to let him go even for a few hours.
* * *
The downside of being married to Lorcan was that it became infinitely more difficult to make him blush, whereas I found myself blushing constantly.
That icy demeanor I thought I had perfected? Gone. I can only summon it with great effort, and never when he’s nearby.
“How are you this cute?” Scarlett asked, holding out her phone. The images of our wedding and the interior of Auralia have lit the outside world on fire with curiosity. “Auraliaphilia” was the word of the year, which...I don’t know how to feel about it.
I’m glad we have no plans to return to the outside world yet, and are limiting our entry visas for next year to fifty, half of which are reserved for scholars. One of our guests snapped a picture of Big Ada and now I’m fielding hundreds of requests every day begging me to issue a permit to study dragons, from every country in the world.
I really need to hire someone to manage the flood of supplicants. Scarlett is a capable diplomat and communications manager, but we’re only two people. We sold the remaining visas at auction with the proceeds funding the Treasury; not a day goes by when some rich asshole isn’t pinging my private email begging to be granted entry. (Thanks, Knauss family, for sharing that information.) Some have requested to become citizens. I doubt they’d be so keen on the idea if they knew I would tax the living shit out of billionaires for the privilege of moving here.
Other pressing matters include finalizing plans and permits for redeveloping The Walled City. Shopkeepers have eagerly petitioned for the right to build.
Where to put housing? A school? Where to put green space and community buildings? How best to encourage growth without creating a sprawling mess? What about the other cities and villages in need of repairs?
Ifran, already overworked, is trying to contract with woodcutters in the Timberlands to provide enough raw wood to start building more permanent structures beginning in the spring. Keryn’s people are using the volcano’s heat to make bricks. Transportation remains cumbersome and slow.
Decision after decision, all of it impacted by the tallied receipts from the wedding celebration. Under Rya’s firm hand, the Treasury situation is starting to shape up. Still, it will be a great relief when our finances aren’t a constantly shifting puzzle of competing priorities.
Hidden within the avalanche of emails was a brief one I nearly missed. A response from the head of branding at Converse. Reba’s stockpile of damaged spidersilk velvet in Cannavale? Sold, to manufacture a limited-edition sneaker, with a cut of the sales coming to us.
Who could have predicted that when an eighteen-year-old princess’s impulse purchase of cheap shoes in a shop in Beijing would eventually inspire a solution to my country’s solvency problem?
It’s a good reminder to me that Auralia has a great deal to offer the world. We do best when we don’t discount our own value. The way I used to do to myself.
Now, I just have to do that same trick thousands of times with equal success, every day, until I die. But I don’t have to do it all alone.
With so much activity to fill our days, months passed in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, I was writing the Midwinter speech. Lorcan, sitting beside me in our now-shared study, wasn’t drawing filthy pictures of me, for once. He likes to tuck them into my pocket for me to find during the day, so I know what to expect at night.
Mostly, though, he just likes passing me dirty notes and watching me blush.
Gods, I adore him.
