Page 44 of Crimson Kingdom

I shot her a questioning look.

“A probable weight gain,” she explained.

In spite of myself, I laughed. “That’s not a thing. You made that up.”

Gwyn looked to Gallagher, who shrugged.

“I can confirm this is a medically valid fact,” he said in a serious tone, throwing another card down.

“Well, I am not choosing my future husband based on arse shape,” I said definitively. “Though I would be happy to rule one out based on arse personality.”

Another round of laughter rang out, and gratitude surged through my veins. Maybe they were forcing me to talk about things I would just as soon not think about, but at least my family made this whole thing feel just a little less daunting.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

The next few days were a series of council meetings, alternating between my two suitors.

Since the heirs discussion hadn’t been fun enough with Evander, I got to have another one with Theo. Da’ sat through it with the same clenched fist and generally uncomfortable expression he had been wearing for the first one.

“The princess has stated that if there are any heirs, they will relinquish their claim to the Lochlann throne,” Uncle Oliver stated.

“If?” Theo asked, shooting me a sideways glance. “Is there a reason there wouldn’t be heirs?”

“No,” I said hastily. “I know you need them. It was just for…”

I stopped myself before I said Evander’s name out loud, but Theo’s face darkened as though he had heard it anyway.

“I see,” he said quietly.

“So, heirs are important to you?” my mother asked.

Theo turned his attention to her.

“I’m not concerned about our children being heirs to Lochlann, but yes, it’s important that we have them.” He spoke with a straightforward earnestness that I couldn’t help but appreciate. “My mother’s family was killed in the coup, and my father was an only child. My brother is unable to sire children, so I am the last of my family line.”

“That’s certainly understandable.” Mamá couldn’t keep a small bit of glee out of her voice, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

The woman was crazy for babies.

“And not a problem,” I assured him. “So perhaps we can move on to official titles and duties, if only for Da’s sake.”

My father shot me a look, but he still hadn’t unclenched his fist.

Fortunately, we were able to move onto other topics, which was good because it gave me less time to dwell on the churning feeling in the pit of my stomach this whole conversation gave me.

That night, we had the immense pleasure of another court dinner.

The only upside to having dinner publicly was that Aunt Jocelyn had declared it wouldn’t reflect well on me to be sandwiched between the men, so they were seated across from me.

On second thought, that was not actually a benefit, since it made it that much harder for me to avoid looking at either of them. We were soon distracted, though, by the arrival of none other than the charming Lady Fiona.

She was pretty, if you liked tall people with small waists and delicate features and perfect hair that didn’t have a crazy mind of its own. Her blue eyes were lit up with unmistakable attraction when she looked at Evander, a coy smile playing on her lips.

Though no one else was seated at our family’s table, she murmured some excuse to be there, casually resting her hand where it brushed against Evander’s arm.

There it was again, that ugly, clawing feeling. My hand clenched around the handle of my fork hard enough that I was surprised it didn’t bend.

At her audacity, obviously.