“A husband?” I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. No. No no no no no.
He held my gaze with a challenging glare. “Yes, a husband. The council wants to see you married as soon as possible. Your coronation will be the perfect opportunity to start looking for someone suitable.”
“Uncle, you can’t be serious!”
“I’m quite serious. You will have a husband within the year if you want the realm to take you seriously.”
“Because I’m a queen and not a king? I don’t think the realm will have trouble—”
“Because you are not a woman but a girl. Because you are not yet a queen, you are only a princess. One that has not even been crowned. Because this realm is looking for strength and unity and solidarity and you are a child that goes traipsing through the woods without a care in the world, as if the butterflies will protect her from all those waiting to slit her throat. If you want to be queen of this realm, Tessana Allisand, you must grow up. You must act like a queen. A husband will help with that.”
I let out a slow breath. My uncle could search for a husband all he wanted, but I would have the final say in whom and when I married.
And it would not be within the year.
When I did not reply, he flicked his hand toward the doors. “Off you go. I’ll see you at supper.”
I curtsied one last time and turned from the Seat of Power that would one day be mine.
“There you are.”
I lifted my gaze from my gold slippers to the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. “Taelon.”
“I’ve been looking for you,” he smiled.
“You and half the guards.”
“What?”
I shook my head. “Is everything all right?”
“It’s time for me to go,” he murmured.
My heart dropped to my toes and I felt like crying. The monarchs had been slowly dispersing over the last few weeks. The Treskinats were one of the last families still here. They were to leave today.
I would miss them dearly.
I had already said goodbye to his parents, but I hadn’t been able to find Taelon when I searched for him earlier. “It is quite strange, isn’t it?” I asked him. “We spent the past eight years separated, but this time it feels more final than the last.”
His lips pressed into a frown. “But it isn’t. I shall be back in a few months for your coronation.”
I nodded. “Yes, I know. We’ll see each other again.” My heart pounded. I was right. This time was more final.
He was going home to his kingdom and his crown. His future. And I was staying here. With my kingdom. With my crown. With my future.
I closed my eyes and pictured him as Rebel King once more. I had known things were impossible then, but not entirely. Because he wasn’t responsible to anyone. As Crown Prince of Soravale, he was responsible to an entire kingdom of people.
“Tessa,” he murmured, leaning into me. “What is it?”
“I’m to marry soon,” I confessed. “My uncle says we will begin searching for the right husband at my coronation. A queen should be married. Especially one that rules the realm.”
Taelon’s body tensed. “I will not be gone long, Tessa. Remember that while your uncle fills your head with all the things a future queen should and should not do.”
He stepped into me until we were only an inch apart. I felt consumed with his body heat, with the masculine scent of him, with everything that was Taelon Treskinat, future king of Soravale.
“Okay,” I whispered.
He leaned closer. “Gunter is here while I am away. Your uncle might loathe his presence but know that the Cavolian has pledged his loyalty to you. He will not let anything happen to you while I’m away.”
“And what of Eret?” I whispered. The temporary rebel commander had been thrown in the dungeons after his promise of fidelity to me. My uncle had not cared a bit that the rebels swore an oath to the crown and to the realm. I had visited him more than I should have. He was not suffering too badly, but I knew he longed for his freedom. “My uncle is determined to make him regret his pledge.”
A flicker of a smile flashed over Taelon’s mouth. “Don’t worry about Eret. He will be free soon enough.”
I didn’t ask any more questions.
It was best if I didn’t know.
“I will be back, Tessa,” he murmured. “Don’t forget about me while I’m gone.”
My breath trembled in my lungs. “I could never,” I whispered. “I would never.”
His lips brushed over my mouth in a fluttering kiss that was over before it began and his fingers traced the line of the pendant I still wore around my neck. “Until we meet again, Stranger.”
“Stay out of trouble, Rebel King.”
He pulled back and graced me with a dazzling smile. “Never.”
Then he was gone, stalking down the corridor with power in each step and the air of a royal thick around him. I watched, unable to tear my eyes off him until he was out of sight.
Oliver’s voice broke into my wandering thoughts. “He’s gone, Tess. You can stop staring longingly at the hallway like a lovesick toad.”
I turned to my friend. “Aren’t you supposed to be working harder on your vows, Oliver the Silent?”
His grin greeted me. “Perhaps,” he allowed. “But I’d much rather have a conversation with my friend, the Queen, then worry about vows waiting for me half a kingdom away.”
“I’m not Queen yet.”
“That is a coincidence.” He linked his arm with mine and tugged me down the corridor. Guards stepped into our wake. Supposedly they were protecting me, but this felt little different than when I’d been on trial. Oliver continued. “Because I am not yet a monk.”
“That is a coincidence,” I agreed. “We both
