“Why are you here, anyway?” Raisa asked. “Did you want to dip your hands in my blood and curse me for the crime of refusing to marry you? Did you want to see if your assassin did the job right, or join in?”

Micah nudged the dead man on the floor with his foot. “To be precise, he’s my father’s assassin,” he said. “Not mine.”

Raisa stared at him, speechless.

“I came to offer you a choice,” Micah said, turning the ring on his own finger. “I can take you downstairs and deliver you to the assassins waiting outside,” he said. “Or you can return to the Fells and marry me.”

Raisa collapsed into an armchair. “What?”

Micah smiled thinly. “I think you are exactly right. The copperheads will have no doubt who is responsible for your murder. Even if you are dead, naming Mellony princess heir and marrying her to me will cause a firestorm of protest. The clans will rise in rebellion. It would cast a pall over our reign and any children we would have.”

Our reign, Raisa thought. Our children? Micah and Mellony? The notion made Raisa’s skin crawl.

“You are close to the copperheads,” Micah went on. “You fostered with them, and you carry their blood. My father sees that as a negative; I see it as an advantage. You’re the blooded heir, and you’re persuasive. If you came out in favor of our marriage, it might go a long way toward convincing the clans to go along with it.”

No, Raisa thought. They’ll never accept a wizard consort, let alone a king. Never ever. But, given the circumstances, she saw no reason to say it aloud.

Micah kept his eyes fixed on Raisa, as if trying to read through her skin. “The whole matter of the wedding was badly handled. I begged my father for time to convince you to marry me willingly. He was in a hurry. He never saw your consent as being important. He doesn’t know you the way I do.”

No doubt Micah was recalling their back-corridor romance in the months leading up to her name day. No doubt he had been counting on his considerable charm to prevail.

We could be good together, he’d said.

You don’t know me as well as you think you do, Raisa thought. The queendom always comes first, before matters of the heart.

Raisa licked her lips and chose her words carefully while her mind raced. “Well, I must admit, I felt betrayed. The queen had never mentioned a match between us before that night. I hadn’t planned to marry so young. I couldn’t understand why I was expected to marry on my name day.”

Why are you doing this, Micah? Raisa thought. Why aren’t you just letting matters proceed as planned? Crossing your father is as dangerous as crossing the clans. Why take this kind of risk?