Chapter Thirty-One
The entire room broke out into chaos.
Each and every one of us, save for Teagan herself, was speaking all at once—either to each other, or toward the Rividian rulers across the table from us.
Surely we could make them see reason or offer them something else in return for their help.
While my arranged marriage to Byn had somehow—against all odds—been a success, that generally wasn’t the case, if history was to be trusted.
More often than not, the two parties were stuck in a loveless, sad, lonely marriage—the two only together out of obligation.
If anybody deserved to grow old with somebody they loved, if anybody deserved to be happy, Teagan did. Even in just the months I’d been in the South, I could see how much she sacrificed not only for her people, but for her family and friends.
She deserved better than what was being proposed.
But what if there’s no other way? a voice deep within me whispered fearfully.
Just as I was about to stand and demand they ask for something else, Teagan responded.
“Enough!” she yelled over all the loud chatter, slamming her fist against the table.
Breathing too deep to be natural, she looked around at her friends—her family—sat at the table beside her.
“This is nobody’s choice to make but mine,” she said. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said I could already hear the defeat in her voice.
Looking toward King and Queen Rividian, she asked with a level voice, “There’s nothing we can offer in place of my hand in marriage?”
Pressing his lips together in what almost looked like regret, the king shook his head. “Nothing.”
Teagan nodded, releasing a breath slowly through her nose. I could see the thoughts swirling in her head rapidly, but there didn’t seem to be another way out.
“Alright, but I have a stipulation of my own,” she said.
“Teagan, absolutely not—” Byn halted when he saw the resigned look on his older sister’s face.
“My baby brother,” she said, soft enough that it wouldn’t carry to the other end of the table as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let me do this for you. For us. For our people.”
Sorrow and helplessness washed over Byn’s emotions. He would never deny his sisters or take away their ability to make their own choices.
He, as well as Teagan, Margo, and I, seemed to realize what this meant at the same moment.
Byn’s eyes moistened, though no tears fell as he nodded slightly to Teagan. Upon seeing this, Margo reached a hand up and tugged on her sister.
“You can’t! You can’t leave, too!” the young female cried out.
She didn’t want Teagan to leave her—as she must’ve felt their parents had.
“Margo,” Teagan replied gently, sitting back down in her chair, though she was fully facing her little sister. “I will still see you all the time, alright? We’ll work it out. I don’t plan on abandoning you.”
Before Margo could descend into a full-blown meltdown, Teagan looked up towards the other rulers. “My stipulation is that I will allow myself to be betrothed to your heir, but I will not marry until after we win this war. Do you have a problem with that?” she questioned.
“Father, don’t I get—” Callum began, but was cut off when the king held up a hand to his son, effectively silencing him.
“No, Princess Teagan, we do not have any issues with that stipulation. This war will be over soon enough now,” King Rividian replied, not giving his son a chance to speak.
“We’d like an official contract, and we’d like to read it once it’s drafted up,” Ezra said, speaking up when I least expected it. Though, it was a smart idea so nobody could go back on their word.
“Done,” the queen said, then held her hand to her mouth and let out a sharp whistle.
A male that I could only imagine was one of the Rividian’s advisors entered the room with a scroll.
He spread it out before the king and queen, where he quickly added in the stipulation of waiting until after the war was over for the marriage to become official.
After the advisor had read it over one final time, he handed it off to King Rividian.
“The kings and queens of each party will sign,” he said, placing the scroll before him and his wife.
“Father,” Callum uttered that single word, his voice nearly breaking as he pleaded with all he had with those two small syllables.
“Sorry, my boy. This is for the best—whether or not you understand that just yet,” his father responded, then signed his name without a second thought.
I watched as Callum seemed to deflate and shrink into himself—so unlike the strong, independent male I’d come to know—as he watched both of his parents sign away his future.
The scroll was rolled up and passed down the table, but when it got into Ezra’s hands, Byn spoke out again.
“Stop,” he said. “I want my advisor, Ezra, to read the contract now.”
Sighing, the queen waved a dismissive hand in response.
A stunned Ezra, whose eyes had widened, quickly recovered after having been given a clear task. He took his time, reading each and every word, until he’d read the contract in its entirety—twice.
“It’s as straightforward as can be, Robyn.
If not a little vague,” Ezra said, pointing toward a specific sentence on the scroll.
“Like here, it simply says this union is between the sole, living Ocrein Isles heir and the eldest living Princess of the South of Inphis. The phrasing is strange, in my opinion, but we obviously know that it’s referencing Callum and Teagan. ”
Byn nodded after hearing that, thanking Ezra for his efforts. A moment later, the scroll had made it to our end of the table, unrolled before Teagan, Byn, and me.
We allowed Teagan to read it before Byn asked her once again if she was sure about this. When she said yes, he only hesitated a moment longer before picking up the feathered pen and signing his name at the bottom, though the motion looked as though it pained him.
When Byn handed the pen to me next, I looked over at Teagan.
I was usually so good at reading people, but that skill seemed to evade me then. I didn’t know if signing the contract was what was best for her—but I knew it was our best chance at beating my twin and the rest of the North.
After decades of the North winning the majority of the battles, I’d finally leveled the playing field for the South when I’d slayed my father. Now, we needed an advantage.
Repeating that in my mind—that we needed this—I signed away any possibility Teagan had of ever deciding her future for herself.
***
“What among the Stars were you thinking?”
Byn paced back and forth across Teagan and Margo’s shared room.
After I’d signed the contract, the Rividian rulers had declared that it was time to eat—though hardly any of us were feeling hungry by that point.
Margo, who had been so upset she couldn’t stop her tears from dropping in to her plate, had left dinner early under the watchful eye of Lyra.
She was somebody Caelia had given a nod of approval for, so Byn and Teagan had allowed their little sister to be led away.
Once we arrived back in our section of Castle Avyer, Byn had marched into Teagan’s room after her. Wanting to make sure nobody else interrupted—and that my husband didn’t get too out of hand—I’d been at his heels, closing the door behind the three of us.
“I was thinking that this sacrifice can help bring peace to our people,” Teagan said, exasperated. “And you can’t be upset at me now, when months ago you both did the same exact thing!”
Teagan looked between me and Byn as his pacing stopped before turning to face his sister.
“That was a decision you and I made together, Teagan,” Byn responded, his voice raw with emotion. “You returned home as fast as Lychen would carry you, and we talked about it—along with the Valwain. Tonight, on the other hand, you cut me out of the equation—all of us out.”
I could feel the despair coming from my husband, threatening to overtake my own emotions—though my feelings weren’t too far off from his.
“Because I knew you would say no! And we don’t have time to negotiate with them, brother. We need to end this now!” Teagan exclaimed.
“We could’ve found another way. We could’ve offered them resources, or coin, or even Titan Wolves, for Stars’ sake! We could have given them anything else!”
“They’ve thrived without our resources and our coin for over a decade, Robyn. And you know Mother would’ve been disappointed if we’d given up any of our wolves—especially with so few left,” Teagan reasoned.
“Mother would be disappointed that I’ve given up you!” Byn’s voice broke.
The room went silent aside from the heavy breathing coming from the siblings before me. Just as I was about to open my mouth to add to the conversation, though, the door behind me creaked open.
Spinning on my heel, ready to slam the door in the face of whoever dared to interrupt, I froze in my tracks as my eyes lowered to see Margo’s tear-stained face poking into the room.
“Come here, Margo,” Teagan said softly, kneeling and opening her arms toward her sister. I watched, amazed yet stunned, at how quickly Teagan leveled out her breathing and plastered on a small smile.
I had a feeling Teagan had sacrificed a lot more than her future during her lifespan. Just in other ways than she had tonight.
Margo all but ran into the extended arms of her sister. I pushed the door shut after her, hoping to stall any other eavesdroppers.
“Did you enjoy your time with Lyra?” Byn asked her, lowering himself to the floor and sitting next to them.
“Lyra is kind.” Margo nodded. “So is Calliope. But Cillian is not.”
“Calliope, as in Callum and Caelia’s teenage sister? And Cillian, the youngest?” Byn tilted his head.