Page 27 of One True Love (Love Mark 1)

I shook my head, suddenly curious to hear it now.

“Well… Our kingdom’s quite new, as I’m sure you know.”

I nodded. That’s about all I knew.

“Explorers had always shrugged this realm off as nothing but a hopeless, inhabitable desert, leaving it unclaimed for centuries. But a little over fifty years ago, two friends were banished from their clan in Lowden at roughly the same time Lowden had its civil war and the Graykey family took the throne there.”

I sent him a sharp glance. After fighting a two-year war with those very people myself, eventually overthrowing the current Graykey king and disbanding his reign until all of Lowden’s allegiance fell to my father, anything to do with that kingdom piqued my interest.

Brentley nodded. “I believe the two banished men were held responsible for the extinction of the dragons, or something to that extent. Anyway, the Graykeys of that time had them exiled and dumped at the edge of the Vast Desert. It was supposed to be a fate worse than death. But after they wandered for weeks, nearly dehydrating and starving to an unfortunate demise, they stumbled across this very valley. They settled in and thrived here for a year or two before claiming the entire ground as their own and sending for their families. Not long after that, the two discovered a way to use the sand in the region to make our rare and fine clear rock. So they set up a commerce for it, until others flocked to the area, making it prosper even more.”

“Remarkable,” I murmured, shaking my head. “And let me guess, one of the two first settlers was named Donnelly.”

“That’s right. Terran Donnelly. My grandfather. And the friend sent into exile from Lowden with him was named Wren Mandalay.”

“Strange,” I murmured, taking in the prosperous-looking valley. “One man got the village named after him, but the other got the crown and the entire kingdom named after him.”

“Ah, well…” Brentley chuckled a bit uncomfortably. “Grandfather Donnelly was always a bit of a showboat. Liked all the attention on himself. Besides, he dealt better with the people. Mandalay was much quieter, liked to keep to himself and was more the brains behind the operation. He watched and plotted, thinking everything through, while Grandfather made the grand, impulsive gestures that more people noticed. But aside from all that, they decided to marry off their children to each other, anyway, so they could share the power of the kingdom equally in the next generation.”

“Well, that makes sense, I guess.”

“Yes,” Brentley agreed. “Except they both ended up having only sons. Two sons for the Donnellys; that would be my father and his younger twin brother, Soren’s father. And one son to Mandalay.”

My eyebrows lifted, wondering how this Mandalay fellow had taken that defeat.

“So, they wrote a new edict,” Brentley went on, answering my silent query. “Arranging the wedding of their grandchildren, so the two families could unite there.”

A prickling awareness dotted my skin. “You mean…” I swerved my gaze to the city of Mandalay. “Vie—That is… I meant to say, the queen and her sister come from House Mandalay?”

“Exactly, so.” Brentley smiled and nodded as if congratulating me on my keen conclusion.

My mind raced, pieces of the puzzle coming together. I’d heard my one true love tell Allera her marriage had been arranged, but it hadn’t occurred to me until now to question why she’d been given to Soren. It all suddenly made sense, though. The two settlers of this realm finally had equal power with the Donnelly king and Mandalay queen. And any Donnelly-Mandalay heir would be considered quite honored.

Brentley’s description of Wren Mandalay made me understand Vienne more as well. Like grandfather, like granddaughter, I decided; they shared similar characteristics. Instead of the meek, shy woman I first thought her to be, I suddenly saw her as the stealthy, introverted brains behind the operation who watched and learned before acting. I had noticed she was reserved when I listened in on her talk with Allera, but now I remembered how she’d instantly mentioned that detail about how the magic faction had worked for rights to rejoin the kingdom when Allera learned they’d been banished. It was as if she had her ear to the ground and was personally keeping track of the situation.

I wondered what else she was monitoring around the kingdom. In fact, I wondered if she’d had a direct hand that no one knew about in starting those peace-communications herself between the king and magical kind. The idea seemed to fit her. I could already tell that many of the people closest to her seriously underestimated her. She could easily slip under their radar to mold and direct politics as she saw fit.

In that case, her union to Sir Soren would be extremely advantageous to her. It got her an in to the castle that being a mere sister to the queen wouldn’t. She now had a seat at the royal table and an ear to every discussion the king had with his top advisor. She’d be crazy to give that up.

A sour taste filled my mouth. Learning this was most distressing. It told me she would likely remain loyal to her husband no matter what she thought of the dick. Their marriage wasn’t about satisfaction for her; it was about the health of a kingdom. She needed to remain exactly where she was to keep the realm running smoothly.

Dammit.

Any stirrings of a plan I’d had to seduce her away from him so she could be with me seemed to crumble.

Still. Why did it have to be that pretentious asshat she’d been tied to? The man grated on every nerve in my body, and that had been before I knew he was wedded to my one true love. Now, I straight-up hated him. I think I would’ve been much more comfortable if she’d ended up with someone like—

Wait. Hold up.

As a new thought struck, I swerved my attention to Brentley.

“I find it curious,” I said. “That the two Mandalay granddaughters went to your brother and cousin, not to your brother and…you.”

“Oh. That.” Brentley laughed and shook his head. “Actually, yes, originally, Yasmin and Vienne were meant to marry Caulder and me, since we’re from the ruling line, but the evening before we were to visit and meet them, I fell quite ill. I puked my accounts up all night. They even sent for a healer to look me over. But she only claimed I must’ve ingested some rotten food, except…” He shook his head and let out a breath. “I don’t recall eating anything so foul as to cause that kind of reaction.”

I watched him, tempted to say, maybe someone put something in your food to sicken you on purpose… Someone who wanted to steal your spot in the royal lineage.

“Anyhow,” Brentley went on, shaking his head. “Soren was kind enough to go in my place.”

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