Page 168 of The Princesses of Ruin
“What is it?”
“I don’t want a child, I don’t know what to do with one,” she says.
“What do you mean?”
“What if I hurt it? What if I don’t give it what it needs? It’ll be part selkie, after all. I have no idea what to do!”
“Her,” Vek’ihr corrects. “It’s a girl.”
I glare at him with my brow furrowed. He backs away with tentacles raised in submission.
“Are you worried that you won’t be the most perfect mother?” I ask.
“Yes,” she nearly wails.
I laugh. “Well, get in line. No mother gets it perfect.”
“Bastard,” she snaps, pushing my chest away.
I fight her, pulling her against me harder. “Oh, get over it. You’re not going to be perfect. Neither am I. But we are going to have a child that we love.”
“What if it hates us?” Reina sobs.
“She,” Vek’ihr adds again.
I glare harder.
He backs even farther away.
“She’s not going to hate us,” I say.
“But if we put her in an arranged marriage,” Reina sobs and I stiffen.
Ah, yes, the whole reason we’re on the topic.
My gaze sharpens on Vek’ihr.
“If we were to have a child, it would have worldly prospects.”
Vek’ihr shrinks. “Of course. Forgive me for suggesting that any of my brood would be of the caliber to even look upon yours.”
The groveling makes me sick. Whether it’s been beaten into him or he’s using it for manipulation, I don’t know.
But some part of me does feel that bringing the ga’hanoi closer would be better for us, in the long run. Maybe not for me…but later. Some other threat that looms could be better fought with the ga’hanoi on my daughter’s side.
“Courting rights,” I say.
Vek’ihr cocks the bulbous top half of his body to emulate confusion. “What are you saying?”
“Your first son will be able to court our daughter, to convince her to marry him,” I say. “That’s the best offer I will allow. She’ll choose him, if it’s her will.”
Vek’ihr shifts through every color, then throws all his limbs out as he approaches me. My spines raise and I move to attack, but Vek’ihr is making the most horrible laughing sound.
“You would honor me so. I’m humbled by your offer. And, Queen Reina, do you also extend this offer?”
She looks like she’s about to throw up. “I do.”
He wraps his tentacles around us and squishes against my shoulder.
