“You didn’t propose tonight, Lach,” I say patiently. “You sent her a letter asking for her hand.”

“I did no such thing,” he says vehemently, shaking his head.

A cold chill races up my spine; it’s not the alcohol speaking.

“Yes, you did.”

“Braizen, you jest too much for your own good! These silly pranks were more amusing in our childhood.”

“You wrote her a letter.” I say, my voice rising in frustration.

Lachlan neatly sets down his glass and turns his entire body to face me.

“I have not written to Verdana since my father's death, and Idalia hasn’t written to me since… hells, since I was a youth! A note filled with incoherent ramblings about you, if I remember correctly. I assumed that you and Idalia came here because you heard the news about my wife and wished to offer condolences.”

I take the water and chug it down. Perhaps I’m the one who’s too drunk.

Lachlan shifts his attention back to his drink and rubs his earlobe. “In all honesty, I thought the two of you were together. Only Braizen Brader and Idalia Hyland would brave the Florian Wood, forsake their families, and break all the rules just for the fun of it. I mean, you look at each other the same way you did when we were children! No, no. To be clear, I put away any feeling I might have ever had for that girl the moment we left the aviary. It was obvious she only had eyes for you.”

My palm grips the clay cup, and my jaw tightens before I manage to peel it open enough to speak.

“Lachlan, she’s here to marry you.”

“Well, I don’t want to marry her! I’m in love with my wife! My wife, Braizen. She’s only been gone for a moment! Do you believe me to be someone who would move on so quickly? You think I would remarry this fast just to have a queen by my side?” He quaffs the rest of his drink and slams down his glass.

“I already have a queen, dammit! The whole world thinks my father chose her for me, but that isn’t true. I loved Sera! She was gentle in speech, even gentler in touch. I wasn’t nervous around her—not once. She…she was my steady breath. She is still!”

He rises and stands straight. “You and Idalia are welcome to stay if it brings no harm to my people. But as for this heresy, this marriage you speak of, I will hear no more of it. I love my wife, and as I promised in my vows, I will love her even in death. Till I join her in the sky.”

He stalks out of the tavern, leaving me no chance to stop him. I stare blankly into my empty cup.

“You want another one, sweetheart?” The server asks.