begun to shift. From a fascination that verged on horror that his father had chosen her as wife of the spare, to an attraction that felt like an abomination.
It felt no less so now.
“Why should you?” she asked. “I was nothing more than a child to you. But of course when you’re seventeen or so you don’t think you’re a child, do you?”
He locked his jaw tight. “I wasn’t.”
That truth stood stark between them. “I don’t suppose you were.”
“We do a great deal of supposing between the two of us.”
“No need,” she said. “We can confirm. That’s my origin story. A girl who was told she would be a princess at eight. Whose mother found that to be a disappointment. Who was frizzy and loud, and still is.” She reached up and touched her sleek locks. “Your staff did sort of an amazing job fixing me up. I can’t take credit for it. I’ve never known what to do with my hair.”
“Well, if you marry wealthy enough you shall never have to. You either hire the appropriate staff who will enable it to look however you wish, or you’ll be able to keep it as is and call it a trend, as your husband will be influential enough that you will command such public opinion.”
“Not a dream that I’ve ever had. But I would like very much to command influence to help with my charity.”
“Why does that charity matter to you?”
“I was very lucky. No matter who I might have been born, or how, I would have been able to get an education. My safety net has always been...well, you. A king. When I left this country, when I began talking to people about their different experiences, people from all over the world who I met at school, I realized that that wasn’t true for most of them. That if they were there, it was often through great financial expense of their parents, or an immense amount of effort. More than a normal person could ever give. If a person has learning disabilities, or special needs, the fight that they’re engaged in to get the kind of education that will work for them is intense. And it’s education that enables them to take their place in the world. We want people to work. We want them to be productive members of society, but we don’t care to give them the building blocks in order to make that happen. I do care. For people who are not as fortunate as I’ve been.”
“I hope that’s the speech that you give at events for your charity.”
“More or less.”
“It’s very affecting.”
“Thank you. I’ve discovered that I care quite a bit about it as a topic. Accidents of birth shouldn’t be the deciding factor in your potential.”
“Neither should accidents of death. But my life has certainly been changed by them.” Normally, he would not have made such a comment, but he was struck by the strange realization that he and Tinley shared commonalities he would never have imagined.
Though, she had not earned her mother’s disdain.
She looked at him, those green eyes full of a deep, round emotion he couldn’t put a name to. A suspicious sort of question that stopped short of accusation, but held no small amount of censure.
She looked down, her neat white teeth closing over her lip. “Why didn’t you stop him from going into the woods?”
She could have been speaking of either of his brothers. Either of his historic failures.
“Should I? That is a common take, Tinley, and you’re not the first to express it. Though most don’t express it directly to me. I should have stopped both of my brothers from going in the woods, shouldn’t I? And yet, I did go in after them. And I seem to have emerged unscathed.”
“So, you believe that you’re the Lion of the Dark Wood? The born leader of this nation? Fated to rule and any potential competition removed?”
“I believe nothing of the kind. I believe that if you’re drunk and a fool and you go running into the woods where your older brother previously disappeared, and where you know there are packs of hungry wolves, you are perhaps taking your chances.”
“That’s a disrespectful way to speak of the dead.”
“The dead got themselves eaten by wolves. The dead must be strong enough to cope with the fact that unflattering things will be said about them.”
She frowned deeply. “The dead is not here to defend himself.”
“If he were, do you think he would defend