Raisa was momentarily speechless.

“Oh,” she finally said, in a small voice. They sat side by side but not touching, lost in their own thoughts. Across the river, the temple tower clock bonged once.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Raisa said through numb lips.

Amon rubbed away tears with his thumb and forefinger. “About the magical barrier or about loving you?”

“Well. Both.”

“No one ever tells the queens about the magical part,” Amon said. “Only Hanalea knew, because she started it. Though we link to an individual, we’re really linking to the line.” Amon shifted his gaze to Raisa. “There may be times that we act against the interest of an individual queen to preserve the line.”

Which would make him a traitor of sorts to an individual queen, Raisa thought.

“Why did you tell me, then?” Raisa asked. “After all these generations?”

“Well, as you said, a new day,” Amon said. “We’re both breaking the rules. But mostly because you’re so bloody persistent. I thought if I ignored you and avoided you, you’d give up and find someone else.”

“I won’t accept this,” Raisa said. “There has to be a way around it. You are not allowed to marry someone you don’t love. I forbid it.”

“I have to marry, Your Highness. And so do you.”

To continue the bloody line, Raisa thought. “What about Lydia? She’s married.”

“She doesn’t have children yet,” Amon said. “There’s no one in the next generation to take over, when I…”

Raisa’s breath caught in her throat as the realization struck her. She turned to glare at Amon. “Your father did this on purpose, to keep us apart. He knew we’d be traveling together to Oden’s Ford, and he knew the temptation would be too great.”

Amon’s eyes said yes, even though he didn’t say it aloud. “Whatever he did, he did it for the line,” Amon said. “That’s what he’s committed to, more than family, more than anything else.”

“I hate your father,” Raisa said through stiff lips. “I’ll never, never, ever forgive him. He had no right to make that decision for us.”

They sat glumly staring at the floor for a while.

“Listen,” Raisa said. “Let’s try it. Kissing, I mean. Like an experiment.”

“This is hard enough already,” Amon said. “What do you think this has been like for me? I’m flesh and blood, you know.”

“Just this time. Please. I am not going to give you up without a fight. Maybe what happened before was a coincidence. Or maybe it had to do with that particular situation. The danger to the line was probably Sloat, and not anything to do with us.”

Amon sighed. After a long pause, he nodded. “You’re right. I guess we’ll never know if we don’t try it. Maybe something’s changed.”