“…grow up?” the youngest prince asked hesitantly.

“Yes, Bastian. You are a Harvest prince. Certainly, you didn’t think I’d allow you to thoughtlessly flaunt our wealth amongst the dregs of society forever. It is time you found an occupation worthy of your station. If you do not wish to learn martial arts or study magic like your brothers, so be it, but I will have you do something. And there is also the question of marriage.”

“Marriage?” the teen squeaked, as if his father had said death.

In response, his father glared at him. “Yes, marriage. In fact, I’ve been considering it for all of you. It’s long time we’ve found you matches. Especially the kingdom’s crown prince.” His glare moved to Dowager. “I’ve entertained your wants to focus on your own growth but a king must have an heir and for such, he needs a queen.”

While his elder brother stewed in uncomfortable silence, Samuel cleared his throat, face slightly flushed. “Father, I am not opposed to marriage, per say, but—"

“You want to marry the Rosefield girl. Cecilia, I believe her name was. It’s not going to happen.”

“But—"

“I married your mother and your sister married the duke’s first-born son. That is how things are done. To marry one of my sons to that family could appear that the crown is favoring them. No. Per tradition, Dowager must take a bride from one of the lower noble houses and you will marry into a ducal house. As my brother married into the Hoffens, it is preferable that you marry a James daughter.”

Samuel smothered his frustration, knowing there was no arguing with the king.

Angelleen looked between her uncomfortable sons and gently cleared her throat. “Those aren’t your only options. Women of strong character and talent are also possible matches. Or those of great potential. Power trumps all things, even tradition.”

She saw the life come back into two of her sons’ eyes. The queen could follow their thoughts easily. Bastian no doubt was relieved that he could spend his life with someone interesting as opposed to the strait-laced ladies bred by noble society. Samuel hopefully realized that if he could rack up enough achievements, he could have any bride he chose.

Dowager had far less freedom. He had to marry a noble girl and had no time to scour through the available daughters to find a suitable match. Much like Sebastian, he was not a man who cared for romance and would handle his responsibilities as a future ruler with reluctance.

Angelleen didn’t wish for her son and some poor, innocent girl to relive her life. That’s why she had already begun searching for the right candidate. Sebastian wouldn’t fight her on the match and hopefully, she could find someone who Dowager at least had a chance of happiness with.

“You aren’t wrong, my queen,” Sebastian said with a small smile. “Power trumps all. Speaking of, when are we going to make the engagement between your apprentice and my youngest official, Reis?”

The knight paused in eating his dinner, scoffing. “There will be no engagement.”

“Ah, why not? He adores her, even with all of her…quirks.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t need to be thinking about princesses. He needs to focus on his spellwork. If he wants to marry your daughter, he can come say so himself after he’s done with his time at the Hall.”

Angelleen tried hard not to frown as the men discussed the future of her daughter without so much as glancing in her direction. It was more like two herders discussing the sale of a sow as opposed to two loving fathers bringing their houses together and it disgusted her.

To anyone who paid the slightest bit of attention to her, it was obvious Angelica didn’t care for romance. The queen doubted her youngest even properly understood what the word meant and what would be expected of her. She didn’t know if her treasure could understand. The girl was eerily insightful with some matters and beyond clueless when it came to others.

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t let him dream of it until he masters at least one of his affinities.”

“Bah! Then he’d end up a sour old man like you.”

“Eh, better than letting all that talent go to waste.” The knight was flushed as he waved for a servant to refill his wine. “Can’t have him getting his ass kicked by little girls.”

“Hm?” Dowager looked up, probable tales of battle catching his attention. “Did Bobby get into a fight?”

“If you can call it that. I tell you, he’s scared shitless of that Tome girl, not that he’d ever admit it.”

The conversation drew the attention of her other sons’ and, startlingly, Angelica, the young girl raising her head from the food she’d been pushing around to look at the knight with wide eyes.

“I listened to him recount the recent events. Is he afraid of the monster that can swallow a fully grown and trained roc in moments? Nah. Scared of the supposed assassins? Nah. Unnerved by the crown agent who killed five people? Not even a little bit. But he starts talking about the Tome girl and he’s trying not to shake.” The knight shook his head. “Though he’d probably say it was out of anger.”

“That woman keeps popping up like a stubborn weed,” Samuel groused.

“Mm.” The king’s brows furrowed. “What disturbs me is that I previously had no idea of Lourianne Tome before she waltzed through the capital with her…wife in tow. It’s hard to believe someone with such a talent for getting into interesting situations has gone unnoticed till now. One does not simply wake up extraordinary.”

“Her family must have been hiding her,” Bastian said. “As a trump card against the Grimoires. Kept her secret, let her build her strength, and then struck when the time was right.”

Samuel scoffed. “You give that ape too much consideration. She’s a halfwit whose only concern is having a good time. She was no one before and if it weren’t for that elf, she’d still be no one.”

“Which begs the question,” Dowager asked, “what would, at our best guess, a master-level caster with a pure affinity of all things see in a halfwit, as you claim? Ruins your theory, doesn’t it, brother?”

“Not at all. The answer is simple. The elf is a perverted deviant just like the ape. Not everyone born to power deserves it.”

“I want to go to the Hall!” Angelica interjected, blowing away the tension.

Her father looked at her with some shock. “You…want to be a caster?”

The young girl tilted her head. “No? I’m not strong like Queen Blasty. I just want to see the flying island and see the sparkles!”

“Sparkles?” Dowager asked. “Do you mean the myriad zone?” He chuckled to himself when his sister nodded happily and hummed to herself. “I suppose every little girl would want to see a colorful wonderland.”

“It has been sometime since we’ve taken a vacation,” Angelleen said softly. Not asking, as that wasn’t her place. A quiet suggestion and a meaningful look that dug into the king’s conscience to remind him of all the things she didn’t ask for was more appropriate. “I could take her for a small, unannounced trip.” You need not come, was left unspoken.

Sebastian cleared his throat and turned away from her. “I suppose. It will have to wait until spring. It will not look good if a member of the royal family leaves the capital on the eve of an invasion and traveling is most dangerous during the cold months.”

“Of course. Isn’t that good, my treasure?”

“Mm! It’s going to be so much fun!”

“Maybe I’ll tag along,” Dowager mused. “A vacation is good motivation to end the fighting quickly.”

“…we’ll see,” Sebastian said in a voice that said he was already ready to decline. The crown prince traveling was entirely different from the queen and a princess traveling. He was a far more valuable target to any dissenters or the radicals in the Traditionalist Faction that would prefer to see Samuel on the throne. Not to mention, his absence would be far more noticeable than Angelleen’s, as he occasionally accompanied his father to advisory meetings and other work related to ruling the kingdom.

Angelleen preferred he didn’t tag along. She would hate to deceive him. They thought the trip to be a random fancy of her youngest. They were correct, but only she knew that what prompted Angelica’s fancies were things of great interest or power.

Such as, most recently, the queen finding the young girl curled up in the royal library with an ancient journal detailing the relations between the First King and the elves. Not the one written by his father, who returned a madman after living with the elves over a period of some years, but the account of the king himself as he traveled to the Enchanted Forest to deliver news of his father’s passing to people who he thought to be his father’s friends.

Seeing the book in her daughter’s hands, Angelleen knew it was something important, so she claimed it for herself. Later, when Sebastian discussed his plan to give the visiting elf a seed stored in their treasury as a gift, she had returned to the notebook. The First King had written that his father’s mission to grow the seed had been passed on to him and that he was unable to return lest he accomplished it. She gathered from his accounts that the seed would probably not make the greatest gift…and kept her silence.

What Sebastian wanted, more than anything, was recognition. He wanted history to remember him as a great king. Mediocrity was the one thing that hurt him so of course the bitter queen would make sure he stewed in it for the rest of his life. She would never let him be the king who forged an alliance with the elves, opening up the Harvest continent after centuries of isolation.

And she would keep him from whatever opportunity waited at the Hall.