“If ever you question whether Lyra will stand on your side, Thane, you need not wonder. She will.” Emi mimicked my stance and held my glare. “She feels I’ve betrayed you greatly.”

“What are you doing?” The words hissed through my teeth.

Roark came to my side, one brow lifted in a silent query.

Emi opened her arms. “She saw me and Yrsa, and I’m convinced she’s considering stabbing me—”

“I am not.”

“I think she might. All to protect your feelings, my prince.”

“Ah.” The prince faced me in the same moment Roark turned away.

Was he smiling?

“I had no plans to say anything. It was not my place. Wait.” I tilted my head. “Do you already know?”

“I do know.” Thane nodded. “I’ve known how Yrsa and Emi have felt about each other for seasons.”

I looked to Roark. The bastard was smiling.

“Lyra.” Thane came to me and put both palms on my shoulders. “I told you, Yrsa and I have known we would be wed since infancy. We became friends, but that does not always mean the romantic heart will ever take hold. It did for her and Emi. Who am I to stand in the way of them?”

“Why wed, then?”

Prince Thane scoffed. “If I refused, do you think King Hundur would allow his daughter to be with Emi merely because he learned she prefers women? No. She would be placed with another nobleman of Myrda, forced to bear his children, and be banned from Stonegate.”

By the gods, he was protecting her. Marrying her to let her be free.

A gentle touch came to the back of my arm. Roark leaned close and spoke in soft gestures. They protect each other. Understand why few can know?

I nodded, feeling utterly foolish.

“I love Thane,” Yrsa said. “But we knew we would never be in love with each other. Like he has let me follow my heart, I will always do the same for him.”

They could fall in love with others, but never be allowed to truly claim the ones in their hearts. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Thane flashed his roguish grin. “We are happy, which is much more than I can say for many arranged marriages. You might have seen some in these very walls that look truly miserable.”

Yrsa chuckled and nudged his ribs.

“What about heirs?” It was customary if a royal bride did not bear children within the first three full seasons, her husband would be given a new bride. “She will face the same trouble soon enough.”

Thane cleared his throat. “We’ve spoken of it many times. We will do what we must do.”

“Prince Thane is safety to me, Melder Bien,” Yrsa said. “He is a friend I will always trust, even if it is with my body.”

“I like to think I would make a decent father too.”