Page 62 of The Royal Throne
“Why is there a League meeting?” Sabine asked.
Anton stood a few feet away, his gaze going from Axel to Sabine before saying, “The League has a few matters to discuss.” He took another sip.
That was vague. “Is Evander going with you?”
“Evander?” Axel said. “Isn’t that Prince Evander to you?” His eyes narrowed.
Sabine felt her face warm—she’d need to be more careful with how she spoke about and addressed the Avoni prince so others wouldn’t question her relationship with the man.
“He is,” Anton said, taking another sip.
“How long will you be gone for?” she asked.
“I expect to be back in two or three days.”
Evander entered the dining room, heading straight out onto the balcony. “My queen,” he said, lifting Sabine’s hand to his lips. His mouth lingered against her skin, his eyes holding hers with a heat that made it hard to breathe.
She wanted to melt into him.
He turned to Anton. “I’m ready to leave when you are.”
Anton gave a curt nod. “As soon as this is over, we’ll take off.” He took another sip.
“Where’s the king?” Evander asked, releasing Sabine’s hand.
“Who the hell knows,” Axel said. “He’ll be here when he’s done doing whatever or whomever he’s doing.”
Sabine’s face flushed from the embarrassment of having Rainer’s affair so casually flaunted before other people, especially Evander.
“Your kingdom is very different from mine,” Evander said, sliding his hands in his pockets. He came and stood beside Sabine, mimicking her position. His shoulder brushed hers. “In Avoni, when we marry, we only are intimate with our partner. I don’t understand why you’d marry someone only to be with another.”
Anton snorted. “You have an arranged marriage to Lottie. You can’t tell me you plan on being monogamous with someone you don’t even know.”
Evander tilted his head to the side. “In Avoni, when we marry, we make a vow to that person to be true. In my kingdom, we honor our vows.”
“Huh.” Anton took a sip from his cup. “What if you hate the person you’re married to?”
Evander considered him. “Why would that change anything?”
“If you don’t like that person, and that’s the only person you can be with?—”
“Then that’s the only person I’ll be with. I don’t understand why that’s so hard for you to grasp. Let’s say, for example, that I married Sabine. If I married her, made a vow to her, I would never lie to her, I would never cheat on her, and I would never forsake her.” He glanced sidelong at her. “What’s it like in Bakley?”
She licked her lips. “It’s the same in Bakley. We do not take lovers outside of our marriage.”
“Really?” Anton said. “I find this fascinating. I can see if you married someone you love, but an arranged marriage? A marriage for political reasons? That seems far-fetched. I can’t imagine being forced to marry someone, then only sleeping with that one person the rest of my life—especially if I didn’t like that person.”
Axel chuckled. “Evander, you might change your mind after spending some time with Lottie.”
“I will be true to my wife until the day one of us dies,” Evander said.
Axel slapped Evander on the back. “That explains it—if your wife is annoying, you’ll just kill her.”
Evander held up a hand, a smile sliding over his face. “While I believe in not cheating on my spouse,” Evander mused, “I have no qualms about killing one.”
Sabine laughed, knowing Evander was joking. He was an assassin, in charge of a ruthless assassin guild, but he would never kill someone on a whim. Having spent so much time with him, she knew his heart.
Rainer chose that moment to enter, Lottie at his side.
