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Then she re, “Do you think it was easy forI had no right I was one day away froin But then you caht You cannot take it back Not now Not ever”

That made absolutely no sense The way he talked now sounded like the Andre of old, the one froo The man she’d fallen in love with The man she’d been so sure loved her The man whose children she’d wanted to bear If she didn’t know better, she’d think he loved her now If she didn’t know better, she’d think he’d loved her then, too, had always loved her

But she did know better She knew he hadn’t loved her then She knew because of the ift The money and the words of rejection Not just a rejection of her, but of everything she’d ever wanted to give him He could never have done that if he loved her Never

Andre looked around the conference table at the Privy Council “We are agreed, then, gentlemen?” he asked politely Not by a flicker of his eyelids did he betray they had spent far more time than he’d allotted for discussion of this issue, and that the conclusion the council had nearly reached afterwas the one he’d already reached the week before, despite Zax’s powerful arguainst it

Bringing Zakhar into the twenty-first century had entailed far y Farsince determined Zakhar also needed to modify its political structure Absolute e, but the Zakharians had stubbornly clung to their traditional way of life, and that had included a fierce, unshakable devotion to the much-loved monarchy Zakharians were proud that the House of Marianescu had reigned over Zakhar in an unbroken line for centuries, froe

Zakhar had been extremely fortunate the House of Marianescu had been just as devoted to Zakhar as the Zakharians had been to it, and that the kings of Zakhar had—to a man—been worthy to rule Some more than others, it was true, but Zakhar had never had a truly bad king Andre’s own father had ruled with a fair and just hand, despite his own personal shortcoe, but Andre’s father had been instru on another son to ensure the Marianescu legacy, despite the queen’s doctor warning against a second pregnancy But as a king Andre’s father had been above reproach

The Privy Council advised, but the king had final authority And the Privy Council had always been appointed by the king, so it was unlikely the council would provide any advice that ran contrary to the king’s wishes That was the way it had been right up through his father’s day But in the three years since Andre had ascended the throne he had slowly but surely started placing more power—and responsibility—in the hands of the now-elected Privy Council, another change he’d instituted over the objections of nearly everyone, including his cousin Zax ThatAndre struggled to attain But he kneas the right thing to dofor the long territ his teeth and smile

He glanced in the direction of his cousin Niko lounging indolently on the other side of the large conference table Niko had been aone Andre hadn’t intervened when Niko had stood for election to the council He’d figured the electors would see Niko’s obvious moral weaknesses and unsuitability for the job the same way he did, and would reject his candidacy without Andre expressing an opinion one way or the other, so he was loath to do in the new political process I just didn’t count on the Zakharians’ devotion to the royal faed privately He wouldn’t make that same mistake the second time around

Niko had easily won his election despite the stellar qualifications of his opponent—a man Andre had really wanted on the council—and had been a royal pain ever since Andre had hoped Niko’s new responsibilities on the council would steady his erratic younger cousin the way military discipline had shaped his cousin Zax, but that had been a fleeting hope at best Niko still skated through life like the petulant boy he’d once been And he delighted in obstructing change, even when it was change for the better

Not that Niko would ever openly take a stand against Andre any more than his brother wouldbut for entirely different reasons Nothing would have been more fatal to Niko’s nascent political career—in a shon between the king and his younger cousin there was no contest in the eyes of the Zakharians But Niko agitated the Privy Council in private, raising specious objections to Andre’s best ideas, and encouraging the council to drag its feet on one issue after the other, especially when it ca the monarch’s absolute authority