the King’s but certainly made him taller than most people.
Except it wasn’t most people he was usually compared to—and found lacking. Haydn couldn’t help but think that in his father’s eyes, he would always be the smaller, blonder version of his dead brother. The other son. Not quite as good as his first one.
“Sit,” King Stefan said shortly.
Haydn did as he was told.
The King regarded him from across the desk. “I had a meeting with the Galactic Council representative this morning. You were aware of it, I presume?”
Haydn just nodded. It would have been difficult for him to be ignorant of it when the entire palace had been preparing for that visit for days.
Judging by the King’s scowl, the meeting hadn’t gone as well as he had hoped.
“The Galactic Council isn’t pleased with us,” Stefan said. “They don’t think our planet deserves to be part of the Union of Planets until our ‘barbaric civil war’ is over.”
“Civil war?” Haydn said, his brows drawing close. “There is no civil war in our kingdom.”
“Civil war on our planet,” the King said. “For the Galactic Council, Eila is one entity, and they don’t care that we’ve had two different countries with different governments for thousands of years. They want us to make peace with Kadar and choose one Lord Chancellor to represent our planet. They don’t want two.”
Haydn stared at him in amazement. “You can’t be seriously considering it.” Pelugia and the Republic of Kadar had been at war all his life; he literally couldn’t imagine them not being at war. Not that Haydn wouldn’t welcome an end to this war. Of course he would welcome it. He was tired of leading his men to their deaths, over and over and over. He had lost two thousand men just this past month. Two thousand and thirty-one.
So no, Haydn would be fucking delighted if the war finally ended. He just didn’t believe it was achievable. There were too many grievances on both sides.
Stefan grimaced. “We have little choice. If we don’t do as they say, the Galactic Council will revoke our membership in the Union of Planets, and we’ll lose access to the TNIT network, and most importantly, lose the protection we have as a member of the Union. We will be fair game for any filthy pirate coalition out there.”
Haydn leaned back in his chair, frowning. “The Galactic Council can’t do that, can they? It’s not like Eila is the only planet in the Union that doesn’t have a unified government. There are some very powerful Inner Core planets that have multiple kingdoms or republics: Vergx or Calluvia, for example.”
The King sighed. “We aren’t Vergx or Calluvia, Haydn. By galactic standards, we’re small fish. We don’t have those planets’ political and economic power that allows them to be exceptions to the rule. Besides, those planets still have some kind of unified government—and one Lord Chancellor. We can’t say the same about us. So the Council is giving us an ultimatum: make peace with Kadar and choose one Lord Chancellor within the next few months, or they’re kicking us out of the Union.”
“But how are we supposed to make peace with them, exactly?” Haydn said, drumming his fingers over the armrest. His mind was racing, trying to think of how they could possibly achieve peace with Kadar. All attempts at peace over the decades had failed, the war resuming within months.
His father scowled again. “Apparently, the Kadar Prime Minister has already offered a perfect solution: a marriage between two high-profile political figures of our countries.”
Haydn felt dread curl in his stomach.
He told himself his father couldn’t possibly mean what he thought he meant. Surely his father didn’t intend to use him as a piece in a political game.
“Obviously, you, as my heir and a renowned general in my army, are not expendable,” the King said.
Haydn breathed out.
But his relief didn’t last long.
“So I offered your cousin Devlin, but Prime Minister Taube rejected that offer.” Stefan sneered. “For obvious reasons.”
Haydn pressed his lips together. He’d always hated the prejudice against Xeus alphas, but there was nothing he could do about it, no matter how unfair it was to Devlin and other alphas like him.
“The prime minister insists that for the marriage to truly unite our countries”—Stefan’s expression turned sour— “a marriage between my heir and a Kadarian senator is the only solution. I had to agree.”
Haydn’s stomach dropped.
Fuck.
He opened his mouth to voice his protests but then closed it, knowing they would be futile. There