Page 75 of Crimson Kingdom
Rayan had a way with stones, almost as if they listened to him, and perhaps he listened to them as well. In any event, he always seemed to know things before other people did.
His white teeth gleamed against his deep umber skin, and his crystal-blue eyes lit up with amusement.
I smiled back. “Should I even bother telling you what I want?”
“Well, I can’t be expected to knoweverything.” Though his tone implied that he could.
“I don’t know about that,” I said, but I dutifully handed over my parchment with what I wanted on it.
Rayan looked from my note up to me, giving me a quick nod of his head.
“It shall be done, Your Highness.”
From there, I met Evander in the council room to finalize our wedding vows with language that both parties agreed on. Naturally, I had the word “obey” removed from mine, though I told him he was welcome to keep it in his.
He declined, and eventually, we settled on verbiage that was acceptable to everyone.
I got to my feet, preparing to head to the sparring room when my mother put a hand on my arm.
“I thought we could spend some time together this afternoon.” She looked meaningfully at my father, who still hadn’t bothered to speak to me other than what was strictly necessary, then at Evander. “Allof us.”
We found ourselves in the sitting room of my parents’ suites. Avani, Evander, my parents, and I sat around the small, round table as my mother set up the board and pieces to Dominion.
It was a game of conquest, one my family had been playing for as long as I could remember. Da’ used it to teach us battle strategy. Plotting out moves in advance had never been my strong suit, though I did sometimes win through the sheer random, unexpected nature of my attacks.
And Mamá’s strengths lay more in winning the hearts of her people, so mostly, Da’ and Avani took turns winning.
Or Mac, when he had been here…
Mamá explained the rules, offering Evander a drink while she talked.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said.
“None of that. It’s Mamá now,” she said insistently.
Evander’s lips parted, and Avani shook her head. “There’s no point in arguing with her. It’s what Mac called her,” she offered.
“You don’t have to--” I started to say, knowing that the subject of mothers wasn’t easy for Evander, but he gave a terse nod.
“Mamá, then.”
“And you can call Logan--” my mother began, but Da’ cut her off.
“Your Majesty is fine.” He sounded grouchy enough that Avani let out a startled chuckle, and even Evander’s mouth twitched up.
But Mamá and I both glared at my father, something he steadfastly ignored.
“Newest member of the family can choose their color first,” Avani gestured to the miniscule painted soldiers in a valiant attempt to dispel the awkwardness.
“Black,” he said unsurprisingly.
She doled out the rest of the pieces, purple for herself, green for my mother, blue for Da’, and crimson for me. We went around the table, placing the soldiers on the part of the map we were claiming while my mother proceeded to ask Evander seventeen-hundred questions about himself.
I was learning all kinds of things.
Like that he had been in the military since he was fourteen, and that aside from Taras and Yuriy, he also had two older cousins from the uncle who had died in the war, both women, who were married and living in northern Bear.
It was an uncomfortable reminder that my father had killed his uncle. And his father had killed my grandparents.