Page 2 of A Throne and a Crown

Mat: Tosave your lifefrom Comandante Juan Moreno and his daughter Altagracia, both of whom tried to use you to take the Quarehian throne for themselves. And then you fell into my brother’s hands, and I had to once again…want to guess?

Ren: Save my life?

Mat: Mmm. Funny that.

Ren: But I feel like it was more of a two way thing when Prince Kolya Panarin, Astrid’s brother, tried to kill us both at the tournament we hosted in the name of peace between our countries. Like, a little bit of you saving me…a lot of me saving you?

Mat: It was mostly Val saving us both.

Ren: I definitely don’t remember that. I also don’t remember how his pet wolf helped us escape a few days later when one of my father’s councillors, Navar, alleged I was a bastard with no claim to the throne. Or how Valeri then put his life on the line to help me recover it. Because that would have me in your brother’s debt, and…no thanks.

Mat:(snorts)Or Jiron’s, for giving himself up to the rebels hunting you so we could get away.Or Astrid’s, for divulging the secret of the last Hearken in existence. Or Dima’s, for risking everything to come with us and try to use his mind-reading magic to reveal the lies of Navar and your sister’s scheming husband, Duke Welzes.

Ren: I-

Mat: Or Starling’s, for her healing gift that gave you back your sliced-off tongue and my ability to walk. Or Parvan’s, for protecting me when-

Ren: Oh, stop being right all the time,mi corazón.Because yes, we do indeed owe debts to a hell of a lot of people. These crowns on our heads wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for our friends and family, and…where even is yours?

Mat: I don’t know. It’s hard to keep track of.

Ren: Don’t tell me you’ve lost it. It’s a fucking goldcrownbelonging to my fuckingking consort, and I…oh, you’re good. I almost didn’t notice that reference.

Mat:(grins)Thank you.

Ren: I suppose we’re up to the wedding.

Mat: Nearly. First there was you standing up to Welzes and winning the Quarehian throne through election by your people. You stopping him from taking your sister back to a country in which she’d be treated like property, and then the unfortunate matter of him…

Ren: Accidentally losing his heartbeat?

Mat: Yeah, that. And Elías and Luis rescuing Jiron from weeks of torture. And then your coronation and my marriage proposal-

Ren:Mymarriage proposal, you absolute brat.

Mat: And changing the laws in Quareh to recognise all genders equally and encouraging the northern countries to follow suit with their archaic laws on sexuality, and Elías being promoted to Comandante. Oh, and Jiron finding the sweetest man on the entire continent to fall in love with.

Ren: Wyatt is pretty adorable, I’ll give Jiron that. But ‘sweetest’? Really, Nat, it’s like you’ve forgotten all aboutme.

Mat:(sarcastically)Oh no. How could I have misspoken so badly.

Ren: Then we had our wedd-

Mat: No! First there was…um, well, there was also the…uh, move to the Márosian palace and um… Viento got a new stable, so that was nice, and…you appointed your new Council…

Ren: Why are you reciting the mundane?(peers at him suspiciously)What happened to telling it inbroad strokes?

Mat: I just think it’s important the reader knows all about the bats that we saw roosting in the roof that time, and the…uh, dog that Dima adopted, and uh…

Ren: And our wedding.

Mat: And the way our room servant Camila is so good at tidying up after us – mostly you, Ren, as I have in fact learned how to perform basic tasks like picking up my own clothes and returning towels to the bathing chamber, whereas you’re stuck somewhere around the level of a three-year-old with more toys than discipline. She asked me the other day how you still don’t realise that leaving ink bottles unstoppered overnight dries up the-

Ren: Speaking oftoys and discipline, Mathias, I can’t help noticing you’re avoiding mentioningour fucking wedding.

Mat:(sighs)And then Ren and I got married.

Ren:Finally.(grins in a decidedly evil way)Now, wildcat, you have to tell them in excruciating detail about everything I did to you on our wedding night. And if you dare skip any of our fun, I’ll have you-

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