the heir to the throne was required to marry for heirs, and unless he was mistaken, neither Korena nor Aliara possessed an essential component to that process.
Davrin silently bid his own essential component to behave.
When they finally drew apart, Aliara approached him and curtsied, then rose and tidied her hair and mussed dress. "Thank you for being so understanding, my lord." She winked. "Your Highness."
"That will take getting used to it," Davrin said. "Even in my most ambitious daydreams, my being royalty made no appearance. I am sorry it cannot be you, my lady."
She smiled, bittersweet but accepting. "What we have is far better than we dared to hope, and more than most will ever have. I was happy to learn Sir Cimar survived the lindworm. The other knights will have quite the time trying to outdo him at story time!"
"Oh, that reminds me," Korena replied, and reached into the pouch at her waist. "Your official ring, so you already have it whenever we announce it, or should there be an emergency so dire that confessing our engagement will help resolve the situation. Also a ring for Sir Cimar, who more than earned it by rising to the challenge."
Davrin took them as she held them out. One was an Order of the Osprey ring, Cimar's name carved inside. The other was a large, handsome, and heavy piece that dwarfed and dulled every other ring in his collection, and he had many, an assortment of official rings, heirlooms, and gifts.
This one was gold, set with a large square cut emerald framed by smaller diamonds and emeralds in an alternating pattern. The band was wide, completely covering his finger up to the first knuckle, and inside was carved the royal motto: we will always rise, no matter how hard we might fall.
It also tingled with old magic; likely once he put the ring on, there would be no taking it off his finger until death—or far nastier magic came along. He tucked them away in his own pouch. "I will pass it on when he arrives home tonight, and I vow I'll not betray your trust in me."
"If I suspected you would even consider it, I would have not given you that ring. It's been spelled to you already, so if another steals it and tries to wear it, they will sorely regret it—if they live."
"That is powerful magic." Especially given magic simply didn't show up often. The history books said it had once been far more prevalent, and shifting alongside it, but a bad combination of war, plague, and famine had wiped out entire swaths of the world, and those with magic or shifter blood had suffered the greatest losses. "I didn't know anyone in the castle was capable of that."
Korena winked. "Stay long enough, and you'll find out who."
Davrin laughed.
They all turned as a knock came at the far outer door, the visitor pounding so hard it probably echoed down the entire wing.
"That doesn't sound good," Aliara replied. She gathered her skirts and hastened off, and returned a moment later, her face gone ashen. "Korena, you must come at once. It's about your father."
"Shit," Korena said, sharp and succinct. "Davrin—"
"I'll remain in here, and when there is a moment to slip away discreetly, I shall do so."
Korena nodded and departed, Aliara at her side.
Davrin moved to the mostly closed door, well out of sight of roaming eyes but close enough he could hear what was happening, should it be something that required quick action.
The man who'd come to see them, one of King Rorlen's personal attendants, spoke in low tones, but he wasn't experienced enough at it somehow to keep the castle walls from carrying them.
His Majesty had thrown a serious fit just minutes ago, behaving like some wild animal, throwing things around the room, wounding several people in the process. All of them servants, but no matter how discreet they all swore they would be, one of them would eventually run their mouth—for the thrill, from booze, or for good old-fashioned bribery.
Korena dismissed the attendant, and Aliara closed the door behind him, leaning against it and sharing a look of stark exhaustion and fear with Korena.
Davrin opened the library door and stepped out into the main room. "I'm guessing this is far more than a normal tantrum."
"Yes," Korena said, turning. "It's one of the signs of the madness, but it wasn't supposed to manifest for weeks yet, even months. Barley, the attendant, said the healer suspects it may have