Page 96 of Realm of Thieves

Steiner and Solla exchange a wary glance.

“So you know, then,” I say slowly, my heart feeling crushed. “Who is she? Who is Princess Frida?”

“The woman Andor is going to marry,” Steiner says.

“Steiner,” Solla chides him. She gestures to me with her eyes. “You don’t have to be so blunt,” she says under her breath. She turns and gives me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I thought maybe Andor would have filled you in.”

I give my head a rough shake, as if I can shake this all away. “He never told me about her.”

“Because he doesn’t want to marry her,” she says. “Just as Vidar doesn’t want to marry whoever it is he’ll have to marry. There are things expected of us as Kolbecks. Even I will have to marry someone else and not the person I want.”

“Heda?” Steiner says to his sister in surprise. “You would marry her?”

“If I could,” Solla says.

Ah. Solla is in love with another woman?

“Are you not allowed to marry the same gender here?” I ask. Back in Esland it’s common for people to marry whoever they feel like, regardless of gender or sexuality. Even polyamorous marriages are legal in the Banished Land.

“It’s allowed…” she says carefully. “But not really accepted. Not yet. There is more tolerance in Altus Dugrell. In Vesland it’s legal. Here it’s a gray area.”

“But it doesn’t really matter since Solla is bound by our father to do as she’s told or be rejected from the family,” Steiner says. He sighs, looking completely despondent. “I’m sure I’ll be handed off to some strange woman, too.”

“This isn’t about us, though,” Solla quickly says, turning her attention back to me. “It’s about you and Andor. I can guarantee Andor doesn’t want to marry Frida. He’s been scheming to get out of it since the day my father promised him to the royals of Altus Dugrell. It’s a way to create unity between the lands. A bridge of sorts. We need the countries to be united as one, especially these days. If he marries her, then the royals can’t turn against each other.”

“So if he doesn’t marry her, then he’s making things worse for the lands,” I say, hating that I even have to say those words.

“It’s a sacrifice,” Steiner says. “One that none of us are happy about, especially not Andor.”

And yet he didn’t say a thing. This whole time I’ve been sleeping with him, fighting with him, risking my life alongside him, falling for him, and he’s been betrothed to someone else?

I feel flattened. Reduced. Into nothing. Like we now have nothing between us when it started to feel like we had everything.

And that’s when I really feel the weight in my stomach.

I’d begun to think about Andor as if he was always going to be around. As if what we were doing together, this relationship or whatever it is, was not only just getting started but that it was leading somewhere. Maybe not here in the Stormglen, but somewhere else, together. I had hope for us, more than I let my silly brain know, that we were going in the same direction.

But he was heading in another direction all along.

“He’s coming,” Solla suddenly says, a strange white flash coming over her eyes.

“Who is?” I manage to ask.

“Andor. He’s in the hall, heading here,” she says. I suppose she has some kind of precognition along with her telekinesis. She nods at Steiner. “We should go, give them privacy.”

“It’s my lab,” Steiner protests.

“And she’s probably going to murder Andor for keeping theprincess a secret,” she says. “Do you want that to happen in the hall where everyone can see?”

He gives her a begrudging nod just as the door to the lab opens.

“Steiner, we need to talk about those fertilized dragon eggs,” Andor says as he steps in. He comes to a halt when he sees me. “What’s going on? Brynla, are you all right?”

He strides over to me while Solla and Steiner quickly exit the lab, shutting us inside, and Andor puts his hands on my shoulders. “Why are you out of bed? What happened?” His eyes search mine, completely oblivious.

For a moment I can barely speak. The hurt is too much; my emotions have already been at such a high level that I’m having a hard time pulling myself together.

Finally I say, “I overheard you and your father arguing.”

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