Alone in the solar with Will and the royal clerk, it had seemed almost incidental, one of the many details the clerk had been tasked with. The king wanted an alliance, owed a favor to some lord, and a lady of high birth and meager dowry met all Edward’s requirements for an advantageous match. This was how such things were done. It was how it must be done, if he was to obey his king.

But now as he felt Nan’s eyes on him, it was real in a way it had not been only moments ago. Now it seemed faithless, indefensible. He turned and made himself look at her.

Her face was devoid of any expression. There was no surprise in her, and that was the most damning thing of all.

“I must marry,” he said, because he must say something. He must explain it. He stepped toward her, stopping when he was near enough to touch her. “At the king’s behest.”

He could hear the cowardice in his words, the defensiveness. She could hear it too, he knew, and that was why she looked him in the eye. The startling blue unnerved him, reminding him of his first sight of her, a shock of compassion amid the violence.

“It is a condition of the agreement.” He would not be so craven as to say he must do it to save his life. She would forgive that. But it was not for his life. It was for Aderinyth. “I have said I will not be a prince. But I will rule in Aderinyth, do I obey Edward.”

She lowered her eyes then, just a little. Just enough to cut off the connection to him. Her expression never changed, flat and closed off, an absolute silence.

“My people suffer, Nan. Too long have I abandoned them to cruelty and death. Nor can I continue to flee my duty to them. I am the last of my family, the last to whom they will gladly give their hearts. I must care for them.”

Only last night she had said it, and he had been sure she was wrong – that he was born to be a prince, that it was in his nature. His inescapable fate. So well did she know him. Better than he knew himself.

“Come with me,” he said, and it sounded so different than it had an hour ago, when he had imagined saying it to her. Now it was a plea, a breath away from despair. He reached out to put a hand to her hair, and she did not pull away. His thumb moved lightly over her temple. “Come with me now, as we planned. There is naught that will stop us being together.”