The world felt tilted and oddly off-kilter without her. His whole family was shaken by the loss. But Teddy couldn’t blame her for feeling betrayed by his father’s callous decision.
“Believe me. I know the pain of not being able to give a woman what she wants,” Xander said. “I’m trying to save you from the same.”
The guilt was a gut punch. “I?—”
“You thinkIdon’t know?” Xander scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. “I never wanted to rule, but I did what was required of me because being in this family means thinking about the greater good.”
“Funny, it feels like that only applies to me.”
Xander’s eyes lit with anger. “You think your sisters will be able tolove freely? That we won’t have to think strategically about their marriages? Your brother and sisters might have more freedom now, but make no mistake that they will be in a similar boat later,” Xander said. “This peace is such a delicate thing. I’ve been able to do so much good over the past twenty-five years as king. I have tried to make this role more bearable, to spread around the power so the people have more. But everyone has very quickly forgotten what it’s like to truly be at war. Things are more delicate than they should be.” The king shook his head, looking more world-weary than anyone his age should. “That’s why we’re here. To honor the alliance between Olney and Argaria and to bear witness to the contained violence of the Gauntlet Games.”
“I know,” Teddy snapped.
“Do you?” Xander challenged, his gaze piercing. “You know our history. You know what this peace cost me. There are stories you know and stories you don’t, but just because you’ve been insulated from the worst of it doesn’t mean that you have no sacrifices to make.” The king ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I wish things could be different for you. I wanted you to have choices I didn’t. But I have fought hard and only managed to find the most tentative peace. That failure is on me. I’m sorry you must suffer for it.”
Teddy hung his head. His parents both had to make sacrifices and, although they weren’t a love match, they had clear affection for each other and a wonderful relationship.
“But did you not sacrifice so future generations wouldn’t have to? Grace has family that are well-connected in both kingdoms. They’re close family friends and she has the right temperament to be queen.”
Xander pursed his lips. “But she does not have any political appeal. Aldrena has yet to renew our trade routes, and if they don’t, our merchants and farmers can easily make life hell for us. At the same time, the aristocracy will relish in our failure and use it as a reason that anyone else should be on the throne and they won’t be talking about you, Teddy. A good king understands how to pick his battles.” His father placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to ask it of you, but you must always be king first, and a man second.”
As if Teddy didn’t already hold himself to that very impossible standard. If only he could figure out how to shut down the part of him that wanted this one thing—maybe then he’d truly be the perfect king.
Ever since his parents had begun to float the idea of Aldrenian princesses, he’d made the tentative plan to go to the Temple of Desiree, goddess of love, and get irrefutable proof that he and Grace were meant to be. The type of bond that Desiree’s priestesses granted was goddess-blessed. Teddy was not terribly romantic at heart, but people respected those bonds and it was one of the few things that would make his parents bend. Even a princess could not be a better option than his perfect match. They might be frustrated after the fact, but they would realize the wisdom of his choice once they saw how he and Grace ruled together.
Movement over his father’s shoulder caught Teddy’s eye. His father’s guards, several paces away, turned too.
Teddy’s sister, Alexandra, ducked out of a cave hidden along the jagged cliff face.
Xander turned, following Teddy’s gaze.
Alexandra froze, a bright smile on her face. “Good morning, Papa,” she said cheerfully. “Don’t you just love this summer weather?”
“And where are you coming from, Alexandra?” their father asked.
Xander was too smart to ask such questions, especially given the stories about what he was like in his youth. Alexandra’s hair was mussed, her tunic rumpled, and her lips swollen. She was clearly coming from the most recent in a long line of inappropriate trysts.
Teddy could never decide if his father preferred to feign ignorance or if he was entertained by her improvised excuses. Alexandra and Jalen always seemed in a tense competition to be most like their father and most at odds for his attention.
Alexandra gave him her winningest smile. “If you must know, I was making an offering to the goddess of the sea. Why else would I be on the beach so early?”
“I certainly can’t fathom what else you’d be doing. Let’s make sure no one else does either,” Xander said.
Alexandra curtseyed. “Of course, Papa.” She turned to scurry away but stopped when their father spoke again.
“You can expect a conversation with your mother and Maren about this.”
Alexandra’s shoulders tensed, but she didn’t turn, continuing to scramble up the beach toward the trail to town.
The king shook his head, turning back to look at Teddy. “Think about what I’ve said. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Teddy wished he could scream—transform his frustration from a stoic grunt to an angry throat-shredding howl. But a good prince was a blank canvas upon which a kingdom could paint their hopes. It didn’t suit to be wild or reckless when he had an obligation to be cool and solid as granite. So he forced his anger to look tidy, jammed it into the faint lines of a frown. Inside, he was a violent storm on a raging sea, but on the surface he was calm.
Be steady, the voice in his head chided.Never let them see you sweat. A king needed to be unmoved by aristocrats and common men alike. His father was always testing him for weak spots, making sure he wouldn’t crack under pressure, and though it was out of love and experience, it still chafed that Xander didn’t trust that he could take it. Teddy hadn’t broken yet and he certainly wouldn’t today.
His storm magic stirred beneath his skin, reaching out for the clouds above, aching to spin his frantic, unsettled emotions into a tempest. As much as he loved his magic, that power was wild. Though he always felt the rhythm of a storm and could weave it together like he was directing a symphony, there was always a strange call of the void—a reckless urge to simply let it go and see what happened.
He tore down the beach, trying to sort through the chaos in his mind. His mother had once told him that being royal meant you could only choose a few nonnegotiable things. If he wanted to rule well, he had to choose wisely what he could live with and what he couldn’t live without. Grace was his nonnegotiable thing. He neededher to ground him and keep him sane, and while having consorts had worked for his parents—at least for a time—Grace was not the type of woman to abide being in second place. Nor did he want her there.
