Page 126 of The Tsarina's Favorite
She had an odd notion of glory.
“I plan on wearing daring decolletage for the rest of my life so I can show it off,” she said.
If only I could feel that way about mine.
“We should tell your brother that you’re alive,” Alaina said.
“He won’t want me back.”
“Then you leave me no choice.”Alaina took my hand again.“Prince Mikhail—”
“Former prince,” I corrected.“I haven’t been reinstated.”
“No.Not yet.”Alaina smiled.“My brother, however, is king, and you are now a prince of Altania.I don’t remember what district he’s given you, but it was a good one.You’ll have to talk to him about that.And he’s made you a member of the Order of the Falcon for saving me.It’s the highest honor you can be given in Altania.”She shot me a glance through her eyelashes.“Now, Prince Mikhail—”
I held my tongue this time.
“Good.”She took a deep breath, content with my submission.“I, Princess Alaina of Altania and heir to the throne, have heard your arguments against acknowledging a wedding that took place in Ilyichia not long ago under stressful circumstances.Being your social superior, I have answered them all to my satisfaction and have determined that your reasons are insufficient to merit an annulment.So I only have one more question to ask to determine if indeed I should let it stand.”She dropped the act and reached out to take my hands.“Do you love me, not just as a companion through difficult times but enough to spend the rest of your life with me?”
“Yes.”It was the easiest answer in the world.
“Then it is decided.I will have none other.”She lowered her voice.“Although I think perhaps we should also get married in the sight of the Great Holy too.What do you say?Be my husband?Remember, if you say no, you doom Altania to an heirless throne.The hopes and expectations of an entire country, and more importantly, me, rest on you.”
“What do we do about my face?”
“Perhaps a small mask if it so concerns you.”
“No feathers,” I stipulated.
“I suppose if you insist.Hammered gold and jewels then?To match your ring?”
I probed the bandages on my left hand.Though I had nothing beyond the second knuckle, the wedding band remained.
“You really want me, after everything?”I asked.
“I wanted you as a bird too,” she admitted, reaching into her bodice and retrieving the red-gold feather I had once given her as an ornament for her hair, “but I couldn’t figure out how to make that work.This is so much easier.”
Nothing would be easy.I didn’t know Altanian well.I would have to learn a whole new set of cultural expectations and norms.I would have to become acquainted with a whole new set of people who would look at me as a suspicious foreigner.But I would have Alaina there beside me, and no one else had to know my true history.
“Then, my wife, let our marriage stand.”
And for the first time, she leaned over and pressed her lips to mine.
