Her chest rumbled as she sighed.

I woke to a knock on my door. Still drowsy, I rose. Thrana mumbled a little in her sleep as I moved her aside and found my slippers. I tightened the sash on my sleeping robe, ran a hand through my hair and opened the door, expecting to find servants or Jovis.

Instead, Iloh stood in the doorway, smartly dressed and much more awake than I was. Was he wearing the same jacket from the night before? “I owe you an apology.”

It took me a moment to arrange my thoughts. The air still smelled faintly of copper. “The assassins? You already apologized.”

“Although I still think that was a vast oversight on the part of my household guards, that’s not what I came here to apologize for. I’ve treated you unfairly.”

My thoughts finally fell into line. “Your mother,” I said. “I know my father used her shard and killed her. I had no power over the things my father did; I wish I had. Suffice to say, we rarely saw eye to eye.” I thought of Shiyen’s temper, of my desperate attempts to please him, to be who he wanted me to be. And I thought of the day I’d killed him.

“I always thought the Sukais cut from the same cloth,” he said.

I was not a Sukai, not truly. But I let him continue.

“I spoke to Pulan. I took your advice. We talked all night. If you keep your word and send resources to develop her mine, she will marry me. The children… we’ll figure that out later. Together.” He seemed more sheepish than he had last night, without the benefit of drink to bolster his courage and honesty.

I let him swim in his discomfort for a moment, just because he’d let me swim in mine for so much longer. And then I did the gracious thing. “I’m glad to hear it. And I’ll keep my word. We can draw up the documents before I leave, if Pulan will stay long enough to sign them. I’ll ask her for a slightly higher tithe in exchange.” I slid that in at the end, hoping he was in a good enough mood to agree. Once they were married, their households and rules would combine.

“Of course, that’s only fair given your investment,” Iloh said. He bowed, and for the first time, it felt genuine. “I’ll distribute the shards to my people. It will go a long way to healing the rifts your father created.”

“And the guards to help with the constructs in the north-eastern reaches?”