For any reason.

He glanced back to Thia and Darice. Thia had been the by-product of her mother’s curiosity about what it would be like to sleep with an Andarion. Because Driana had been young, and she and Nykyrian were different species, it’d never dawned on her that she could actually conceive a child by him.

But Darice…

His parents had loved each other in that mythical way that Fain had deluded himself into believing he’d shared with Omira. To this day, Darice’s mother elevated Keris to a godlike status that no mere mortal could touch. No one was allowed to besmirch his memory in any way, and she would die before she allowed another male to claim her.

At the time Hauk had gone on his Endurance, he’d envied the hell out of both of his brothers for the women they had in their lives. Back then, he’d naively assumed he would have it, too, one day.

Decades later, he knew what an idiot he’d been for that assumption. Both relationships had ended tragically.

And once this was done, his parents expected him to go home and marry Keris’s widow, who hated him for the part he’d played in his brother’s death.

It was something they should have done years ago, but Dariana had violently refused him at every turn. She couldn’t even look at him without baring her fangs, and she hadn’t called him by name since the day his brother had died.

Yet she was Andarion and their custom was for an unpledged male relative to marry the widow to keep her safe and provide for her.

Especially when there were kids involved.

Duty. Honor. Obligation. Loyalty. That was the lifeblood of all Andarions. It flowed thick in their veins and ruled their entire existence. Like it or not, hatred or not, Dariana would marry him and keep her family’s honor, and protect her son’s prestigious lineage.

And make his life a living hell over something that hurt him as much as it did her. Sick to his stomach, Hauk sighed at the bleak future that awaited him.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and Darice will throw me down a mountainside, too. And this time it would succeed in killing him.

One could only hope.

CHAPTER 3

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

Darice curled his lip at Thia before he went out of his way to kick her crate. “I’m not carrying this off the ship. You can carry your own clothes, human.”

Hauk cuffed him on the back of his head. “She’s your princess, tarsen. Respect her as such.”

Rubbing his head, Darice screwed his face up. “Why did we have to bring someone along who’s so high maintenance?”

Thia tsked at him. “I’m not high maintenance, punkin’. Rather, I’m precious cargo that comes with lavish instructions for upkeep.”

Darice curled his lip. “I’m not carrying your clothes.” He kicked the crate again.

This time, the crate growled and hissed in response.

Darice jumped back three feet. “What is that?”