“But you bear her surname.”

“She took the last name of the explorer born under Aries. Legend has it she favored him the most.”

“So you’re telling me this entire island was founded and bred from one woman? What about incest?”

“Evangeline’s direct descendants have always brought in outsiders to marry. It’s tradition, just as it’s tradition to compete for a queen’s hand in marriage at the start of a new Brotherhood.”

“And how is the new Brotherhood chosen?”

His lips curve into a grin. “You’re full of questions, aren’t you, my sweet girl?”

“I’m just trying to understand it all.” Slowly, we move down the hall once more.

“The Brotherhood shifts power every twenty-five years or so. Each house bears the duty of producing a male heir born under its zodiac sign. Once all twelve heirs come of age, the tradition renews, and a new virgin queen is found.” He gives me the side-eye. “This is privileged information.”

“It sounds like a tradition based on superstition.”

“Men have tested the tradition over the years. The outcomes were never good.”

“How so?”

“Disease and death, mostly. When we follow tradition, we prosper. When we don’t…”

A shiver takes hold of me. Or was that an actual cold draft hitting my back? Suddenly, I wish I’d chosen a dress that wasn’t backless—or at least left my hair down. Gooseflesh erupts on my skin.

“Why is the queen always a virgin? Evangeline wasn’t a virgin to all twelve.”

“She was a virgin to only one.”

“Which one?”

A shadow seems to cross his face. “The House of Leo.”

I’m curious about his issue with Leo, but I don’t want to risk shutting down this conversation. We take a few more steps toward the open doors leading into the dining room, and I wait for the furrow between his dark brows to disappear before asking my next question. “What happens if one of the houses can’t produce an heir?”

“If fertility issues arise, we do whatever is necessary to produce an heir. Surrogates have been used in the past. So have mistresses.”

Something close to possessiveness rushes up inside me, and I imagine the man I’m to marry in bed with another woman. I don’t like that idea at all. And I don’t like that the man in my hypothetical vision is Liam. I’ve only known him for a day, but I’m becoming…attached.

How will I navigate the next twelve months without crushing my heart in the process? The potential for total annihilation is too great. No matter the outcome, someone will get hurt.

Several someones.

“What if a member of the Brotherhood is the one with the fertility problem?”

Liam stops, and the look he gives me is so intense, I’m tempted to take a step back. “That’s never happened, Novalee.”