To the Esteemed Count Amos Bicman, Lord of North Cove,

  By command of His Most Gracious Majesty, King Asput, Sovereign of Falmoren, it falls to me, his uncle and loyal servant, Duke Norris Falmore, to bear unto you words of favor and blessing.

  Know this, my lord: the eyes of the throne have not been blind to your labors. The faith with which you have borne the burdens of command, the courage with which you have guarded His Majesty’s lands, and the wisdom with which you nurture the people entrusted to your care have all been recorded in the sight of the Crown. Your contributions both militarily and domestically have been noted. Where others falter, you have stood; where others sought only gain, you have labored for the good of the kingdom.

  In acknowledgment of such steadfast service, His Majesty, in the fullness of his magnanimity, bestows upon you a gift beyond measure. By royal grace, you are granted the hand of Lady Erica Herron, cousin to the King. By this union, your house shall be bound to the royal blood, a mark of esteem seldom given and never lightly offered.

  Receive this honor as a sign of His Majesty’s trust and confidence, and let it be known throughout your county that the King is mindful of those who serve him with loyalty and with diligence. Prepare, therefore, to welcome Lady Erica as your bride, and let the joy of your household be a reflection of the glory of His Majesty’s reign. Your union will take place during this winter's festivities. Your presence is required in Falmore at the beginning of the sixth month.

  May the Endless One, who ordains both crown and covenant, bless this union and preserve you ever in the favor of your sovereign.

  By my hand and seal,

  Duke Norris Falmore

  Uncle to His Majesty, King Asput

  I read it twice, trying to wrap my head around what the king had just done to me—again. Where was the loophole?

  I threw the letter to Benjamin and sat back. As he read through the letter, I rubbed my forehead. There was no way out of this. I knew that. I had even been trying to prepare myself for the possibility of someone in a powerful position making an offer I couldn't refuse from a person I couldn’t afford to offend. I just didn’t expect it to be the king.

  “Amos,” Benjamin said, in a consolatory tone, “I’m sorry.”

  I looked up in surprise. “I thought you would be happy. Is there something wrong with Lady Herron?”

  “Not that I know of. And I am happy. This is the best possible situation for us. She is close enough to the throne that we gain political clout, more than should be possible. It doesn't make sense."

  "Well, if she is a cousin to the king, then most likely she is a widow. With how old the king is, she is probably much older than me," I said, now truly depressed.

  Benjamin, however, gave me a look of confusion. "I do not understand why you would think that. She is a cousin. And in some way related to Duke Herron. If she were one of Duke Hernon's sisters, then yes, she would be old, but I would imagine she would be at least one generation removed. Two makes more sense, though. The prestige of marrying a single generation away from the duke would be beyond what we could hope for. It would possibly start a feud. So possibly a granddaughter of the Duke."

  Now we were both confused.

  "How is a granddaughter of his half-brother, his cousin?"

  "Because they share the same blood."

  "Wait, I think there has been an error in my translator. If I understand this correctly, a cousin is anyone who shares blood outside of the direct line?"

  "Yes. Was it not so where you came from?"

  "No, and we are not going into how it works there. At least I am not marrying someone old enough to be my grandmother."

  "I am still confused. There has to be something wrong with this woman," Benjamin said absently.

  "Seriously, am I that bad of a match?"

  "For royal blood, yes. You are a provincial count who has no real income other than your paintings. You have no status in court other than saving the life of a deranged duke, which was a happy accident. She is either physically or mentally ill. Barren would be my guess."

  "Why would he give me a barren wife? My line would end."

  "It is actually rather clever. It ties you to the Royal Family, but your blood is not mixed with theirs. You get a dowry and connections. They know you have the option of two wives. In fact, this will open up more prospects for your second wife because they will be tangentially related to the Royal Family."

  "An option I will not be using. I will grow to love Erica and adopt if I have to."

  Benjamin sighed, "Marriage is not about love, my lord."

  "Well, it should be," I said. I was getting irritated.

  "But it is not and never will be. You may look for love elsewhere, but marriage among nobles has always been for the benefit of the family, not fulfilling desires. This is the best option for you."

  The room went silent, and neither of us broke it for several minutes.

  "I am sorry. I know you well enough that this will not make you happy, and you are pretty sure that whoever Erica is, she will be, as you say, a stuck-up noble who looks down on everyone. And I know you are especially worried about Emily."

  I sighed and rubbed my face. The issue was a concern, a big one. "What am I going to do? How do I even talk to Em about this?"

  "Amos, I don't think you give her enough credit. It is obvious she is in love with you. Everyone knows that. But she is no fool. I have spent countless hours training her in etiquette and teaching her about how noble society works. She knows there was never any hope of her becoming your wife. Maybe she dreamed of it at first, but she is mature enough to support you in whatever you have to do."

  It isn't like I was planning on marrying Emily— especially not while she was still a kid. Yeah, I know it happens all the time here. Look at Benjamin and Jacklyn, she is only sixteen, and he is like twenty-six. He would be put on a particularly nasty list back on Earth. But I was from Earth, and no matter how hard I tried to fit in, I could only see her as a girl who was seven years younger than my original body.

  We sat there in silence for a while. Finally, I couldn't hold it in. "Looking back, I realize how unfair I was to her. I was leading her on. I was just trying to be a good friend. I love seeing her happy but… I shouldn't have…"

  I could hear the smile in Benjamin's voice as he said, "I think you were fooling yourself more than you were fooling her. And don't say you should have pushed her away. First, it is too late for regrets; second, she does not regret the time spent with you. If this ends your friendship, then it really wasn't a friendship to begin with."

  "Then what do I say?"

  "Tell her the truth. Tell her you love her."

  That caused me to throw my hands up, "And hurt her even more? I don't think I love her the same way she loves me. I know she wants more."

  "And she knows she will never have it. I don't know about the place you came from or your customs, Amos, but to me, leaving her to doubt would hurt more than hearing the truth. That even though you cannot marry her, you will always love her. It is often the case here."

  "That seems backwards to me, but maybe you are right, perhaps I am the one who is backwards. I'm sorry, Benjamin, I think I need some time alone. I need to think," I said, slumping in my chair.

  "Of course. Let me know if you need me," he said while standing up.

  I sat there lost in thought. I tried not to think about Emily, which wasn't actually hard, given that I had so many other things to think about. Most importantly, how to get out of this mess. But since nothing came to mind, I started wondering what this person might be like.

  Was she, like so many of the girls I had met at the balls, arrogant, self-centered, and always trying to get an edge over her peers? Or was she more normal, like the duelist, Rulot's wife? Maybe she would just be here to spy on me. Perhaps it's not too late for me to run away, I thought sarcastically. She could be anywhere from thirteen to forty for all I knew. Okay, if she were the Duke's granddaughter or something like that, she couldn't be forty, but still, I had no desire to marry a thirteen-year-old either.

  Thoughts churned inside my head well into the evening. My mind kept coming back to the idea that I needed to make things right for Emily. I had very little time to escape this noose, and even if I didn't, I still needed to make sure I had done everything I could to make Emily happy. I fell asleep early in the morning. Thoughts tumbling around in my head.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I woke up with a start. Almost leaping out of bed. I was fully awake as threads of an idea slowly turned into a tapestry. I sat there on the edge of the bed, looking blankly at the wall as the plan solidified. As soon as I was sure I had thought of all the possibilities, a smile formed on my lips. Jumping up, I quickly dressed and went looking for Benjamin.

  I found him at the glassmaker's shop, speaking with one of Tumlus's men. It looked like they were trying a new lens. I stood and waited for Benjamin to finish reading a list of letters. After he was done, I interrupted their session.

  "Benjamin, could I have a moment of your time?"

  "Of course, my lord," he said.

  As we walked closer to the river so as not to be overheard, he said, "You seem in better spirits today. I am glad to see it."

  "I am working through everything, but yes, I had an idea this morning and wanted to present it to you."

  "I hope it isn't some foolish attempt to get out of this marriage. You know there is nothing any of us can do."

  "Nothing like that. I would, however, like to bring in more loyal subjects of the king into my land. How likely is it that I might be able to get an audience to speak with the king outside of court?"

  "A private meeting? Impossible."

  "Not by himself necessarily, but I don't want it to be overheard by people who will report to our enemies."

  "If you tell me what you are planning, I can write the response letter in such a way that the king may be enticed to have a private meeting with you. Possibly paint his portrait in private. What is your idea?"

  "We have a lot of land and many enemies of the king nearby. What if we got permission from the king to give four baron titles to those who are loyal to us? We could split the land south of Kerisi, all the way to the Nore, into its own barony, and then split Plimgus in half. We will split the marsh vertically, making an east and west."

  Benjamin rubbed his chin. “An interesting idea. Why not split Malcomp?”

  “I want to see how the rest of this goes first. I also don’t want to make an enemy of Malcomp. His barony is the best developed, and splitting it would actually hurt him. I’m still hoping we can persuade him to join our side. He seems like an honorable man.”

  “It would be optimal, but it is unlikely that he will switch loyalties. However, I agree this isn’t a battle we’re ready to fight. I don’t think the king would allow us to name our own barons, but even if he put people in those areas who were loyal to him, it would benefit us against Yarbeth. Do you know who you want to put in each barony?”

  "I need some help with that. I like the idea of Vance in the barony south of the Nore. Hopefully, he will not be in Hitub for long. I am not sure who to put next to Yarbeth.”

  “I would say Terrence, but he wouldn’t move away from Pine Ridge,” Benjamin said.

  “I was thinking of possibly putting Chuck there,” I suggested.

  “Let me think on it. I’m not sure that’s the best choice. What about the two marsh baronies?”

  “I would remain in control of East Marsh. But…um, as for West Marsh, I was wondering if you could find the oldest guy around here who is loyal to us. One that doesn’t have any living relatives. Preferably one who only has a few years left to live.” I said sheepishly.

  Benjamin narrowed his eyes. “Amos, what are you up to?”

  “Well, I was just thinking that if a man were to receive a barony and adopt someone, that person would be the heir and get the title when the old man dies.”

  Benjamin thought about it for a moment and then sighed when it finally clicked. “Amos, we already went over this. You can’t marry Emily. Even if you made her a Baroness.”

  “I’m not planning on it. It’s just… I don’t want this Erica girl coming in here and treating Emily poorly because she’s a lower station. If she becomes a baroness, that should help.”

  We turned and walked back to the fort-turned-town of Pine Ridge.

  “Erica is related to the King; even if Emily were born a countess, there would still be a huge gap in station. I like the idea of splitting up the baronies, but making Emily a baroness will not benefit anyone." Benjamin said firmly.

  "I get it," I said in defeat.

  "Do not forget. Erica may be related to the royal family, but you are her husband. It is you who is the count and master of the house. As long as you demand that she give respect to Emily, she must obey. I am sure she has been trained in her duties."

  "Demanding obedience still feels wrong to me sometimes, but at the same time, it works to our advantage. The other issue is that she will be spying on us. We will have to disguise Pine Ridge operations even better. We cannot do that with the paper factory or even the printing press, since those are going to be known exports, but I think we can pull it off with the rest."

  "She will have her orders to keep an eye out for everything. There is no law against having trade secrets, though. I recommend being honest with her. You don't have to say it outright, but let her know that these things are not to be shared."

  "Alright, fair enough. If they want a spy, then I doubt she is too young. Having a 13-year-old wife would just be awkward."

  Benjamin nodded, "I will be trying to obtain all the information we can on her."

  As we approached the town hall, we found a member of the NCDF waiting for us.

  He bowed as we approached him.

  "My lord, we received word from General Draves. They have reached Yarbeth, and he thinks by the time we receive this letter, they will have less than a tenday to reach Kimton."

  "No complaints about the reception at Yarbeth?" I asked.

  "None that he mentioned."

  "Good, it is pathetic that we cannot take the king's road just because we want to avoid confrontation with Vaspar right now."

  I dismissed the young man and spoke with Benjamin in private.

  "Benjamin, have we received any response concerning the complaint we sent about the 'bandits'?"

  "You will have to be patient on that. The king and duke may have to do an investigation."

  "We need to find out what towns we have on the east side of Githum. It may be best just to make several trips down the coast, just to pick up our men, rather than have them march through Kimton." I said.

  "No, it won't. If we split off from the Army, the men would have to separate from the wagon train carrying the food. We would have to find a way to provide for them." Benjamin said.

  "I guess logistics isn't my thing."

  We spent some time chatting about various things before going to the town hall for lunch.

  Emily sat with us as we began discussing the construction of the new fishing boat. We were all very excited for its completion, which should be happening in a couple of weeks. However, we were running dangerously low on seasoned wood. We would need a lot of seasoned wood for the schooner we had in mind. We discussed whether it was worth trying to acquire some from Vaspar.

  "The wood is going to cost upwards of 100 Gold Crowns," Benjamin said.

  I waved that off. "Let's aim to get it from Carok then. We will ship some of my paintings to the Mit Trading Company, and that will cover it. They can then acquire the wood and let us know when to pick it up."

  "I want to help buy the wood," Emily said excitedly.

  "And then you're going to steal all the profits when we start our shipping company."

  "Come on, Lord Bicman, please," she said sweetly.

  I wasn't fooled. "After that, you will want your name and logo put on the side of the ship for advertising as well."

  That brought her up short. "What is a logo?"

  I explained the idea of how companies would invest in projects and then put their symbol on the product for advertising.

  "Yes! Deal. You will need to make a logo for my paper business. Then we can put it on the ship."

  "Hey, I wasn't saying that is what we were doing."

  She gave me a pout.

  I laughed. "I will think about it."

  We all talked some more, and then I asked if Emily would join me for a walk.

  As we walked along a trail near a mountain stream, Emily chatted about her various projects. I was distracted by the letter in my pocket. It felt like a lead weight over my heart. Bright light filtered through the trees whose leaves were just starting to come out.

  I wanted to glare at the sky. It had no right to be so beautiful today of all days. There should be dark clouds waiting in anticipation, ready to unleash a torrential downpour when I shared the news.

  As my thoughts were far away from the one-sided conversation, Emily suddenly stopped. Looking back, I saw concern on her face. "What is it, Amos? Something has been bothering you all day."

  "All day, we only met up at lunch."

  "Exactly. You always come to the shop to say good morning."

  There was a long pause. I still had not figured out the right words to say. But there was no way back, so I just handed her the duke's letter.

  I couldn't meet her eye as she read it. Waiting for her to turn and run away. I lost track of my heartbeats while she read. Suddenly, I felt the tips of her fingers on my cheek, and I finally met her eyes. The sad smile on her face was burned into my mind.

  "Amos, I know you well enough to know what you are thinking. I already knew you were meant for someone else. I used to think…" She paused and shook her head. "Amos, this is a good thing for all of us."

  "How can you say that, Em?" I said in an even tone that did not match my inner frustration.

  "You are constantly worried about who will try to harm us next. Always trying to figure out who you can make alliances with without having them take away everything you have worked so hard for. The only neighbors we have want to take everything from us. I know exactly what would happen if you lost this county. Everyone here would suffer. All of your people share your worry. Every one of us would lose everything we have, not just you."

  "But I led you on, Em. I should have stayed away instead of making it seem…I don't even know what I made it seem like."

  That last phrase I cut off. I couldn't say I made it seem like I loved her because I did love her. There wasn't any 'seeming' about it. It was deep, just not the depth of passion I saw in her eyes.

  She grabbed my hand. "You made it seem like I was the most important person in the world. You made it seem like I was more than some worthless girl with no parents and no future. You made me feel the same way you make everyone feel. I wouldn't trade the time we spent together for anything." There was a pause that hung in the air. "My only regret is that it didn't last longer."

  We sat there staring at each other, not knowing what else to say. "I…I think we should head back," she finally whispered.

  She turned to leave, but I couldn't let it go like this. I reached out and grabbed her hand. She turned around, a question on her lips. "I love you, Emily." The word came out more naturally than I thought it would. They may have meant something different to me than they did to her, but perhaps not.

  Whatever the case, that word finally broke through the facade that Emily was trying to play. She wrapped her arms around me and began to cry. Her crying trailed off into quiet sobs, and we just held each other.

  Maybe it was minutes, maybe it was hours, but eventually her grip loosened. I bent down and kissed her forehead, and I saw a smile creep onto her face.

  "You know, I thought of a way to make you a baroness, but Benjamin shot down the idea," I said with slight indignation in my voice.

  Emily giggled. "Amos, you are ridiculous. Whoever heard of a person going from serf to baroness?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know, I thought it would be a great idea."

  "How about we settle for putting my name on a boat?"

  "I should have never told you about that…then again, I bet in a year or two you might be able to afford your own ship. Then you could do what you want with it."

  "Ha! I like that idea better than being a baroness. I will make the paper. Sell it to Edward to make books, then you can pay me to deliver the books you write everywhere."

  I sighed and ruffled her hair, "What am I going to do with you?"

  She immediately swatted my hand away. "Seriously, Amos. You're lucky I…I love you, or I would tell Grandma you're messing up my hair again."

  The words made me smile, and I couldn't help but reach out and grab her small hand in mine. She stiffened and tried to pull away at first, but then relaxed and clasped my hand more firmly.

  Instead of heading down the trail back to the fort, we headed further up the trail, just to make this moment linger.

  "Amos, I know you and I were never meant to be together, and this won't last, but let's enjoy it while we can."

  I laughed, "That's not fair. You know I can't say no."

  She gave me a smile that any vixen would be proud of, "I know."