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“Maybe Maybe I can ask to take you with et married to this man and have to leave home, it wouldn’t be so bad if I had Tabby with me Because when I talk about home, I don’t mean the one ht of us being apart is so I don’t want to face

“Yeah, right”

I knew that wouldn’t be possible before the words left olden ticket She’s had so e we’ve lost count But h, never had enough status or power Tabby is twenty-four and still unht I had ht o wherever Tabby went

But to my—and my parents’—shock, I was chosen And by someone with a lot of power and money

I turn back to, the word is he rules with an iron fist I click through pictures of hi His face is always straight and stoic, even in the pictures of him as a little boy with his mother and father

I don’t kno long I scroll though the pictures when Tabby interrupts me “Who’s that?” she asks, and I jump I didn’t even feel her come up behind me

“Princess Kaul,” I say, glancing down at the print under the picture “Looks like they are on a date at so of jealousy that my husband—future husband, I correct—was out with another woo

“Meh,” my sister says dismissively “Who knows if she’s really pretty once you wipe all that shit off her face”

I giggle

“Why didn’t he just marry her?”

“Maybe he got all thatMaybe she cheith her mouth open Who knows”

“But he’s going tome What if I do all that stuff? I can do all that stuff” I turn in my chair “Layer my face up, stuff my mouth with food so he can see every choh is the worst”

“It is pretty bad,” Tabby agrees, grinning

It’s not that it sounds funny, it’s just kinda loud Really loud Maybe a little infectious, too, because a few ti about o on for five minutes It drives my parents nuts, which is an added bonus