I just smile while Lin laughs at their comments, but under the table she is rubbing her leg against mine. This not only lets me know that I am not in trouble, but that things will get interesting later. That is a major relief, I have said several things that she could have taken the wrong way.

  We chat for a little while longer, but we steer away from that topic and anything serious. As if they know, as soon as the light chatting winds down, the sprites bring in dessert. However, Lin stops me from eating any of them, instead we take them to the suite.

  As we leave with a tray of desserts, I am surprised to see Bella smiling at the two of us. It looks like she has less problems with insecurities than I do, which makes me a little jealous. In the end I still get to eat my desserts, just in a much more interesting fashion.

  The next morning, we have breakfast with Bella and then I open a gate to the southern empire. Before the guard can go running off, I tell him to let the emperor know that I will wait until I can speak with him in private. The knowledge of a permanent gate can’t be leaked until it is ready to be placed.

  Otherwise, people will be scrambling to get an advantage by being the first through the gate. That kind of thing can cause chaos and do all sorts of damage to the economy. I would prefer to prevent that since I don’t want to create headaches for the emperor.

  The purpose of this gate is to benefit both of our territories, not to create more problems. The first guard runs off to inform the emperor and the second leads us to a place to wait. I was expecting to be taken to a waiting room, but instead I find myself in the emperor’s personal quarters.

  The guard leaves us in the living room, which is tastefully decorated while still being extremely luxurious. I sit down on a leather sofa and as soon as I do Lin sits next to me and leans against me. Then we chat about minor things as we wait and we end up waiting about an hour.

  However, when our wait ends it isn’t the emperor who enters, it is his daughter Shiro. With her is a woman who is carrying a sleeping baby, my guess would be that she is the wetnurse. A quick scan tells me that the baby is a boy, which explains the smile on Shiro’s face.

  Shiro says “King Ash, Queen Lin, welcome! I hope that you have been well!”

  Lin says “We have been, thank you, but I am not the queen quite yet.”

  “Hello, Shiro. You are looking extremely happy, could that have to do with your new baby brother?”

  Shiro says “It absolutely is! I am no longer the heir and it is the best feeling ever! I owe it all to you, thank you!”

  “No problem. How is your mother doing?”

  Shiro says “She is happy and healthy. This is actually her first day back in court. Both her and my father are deliriously happy. To be honest, it is a little sickening at times, but I understand it. In fact, they have been so happy that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out I have another sibling on the way.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Lin says “Would that be a bad thing?”

  Shiro says “No, not really. I wouldn’t mind, but if it is another boy it could cause problems later.”

  “Family is more important than politics. In my view, anyone who tries to use different kids to form factions should just be gotten rid of. They are just causing problems to try and benefit from them anyway. Anyone that selfish isn’t doing anything for the kingdom.”

  Shiro says “My father would probably agree with you, but some people are harder to get rid of unfortunately. I am lucky that I have been somewhat sheltered and haven’t had to deal with those kind of people.”

  “Yeah, that is lucky. The fact that he was able to shelter you means that your father’s reign is stable.”

  Shiro says “Yes, it is. At least it is now. When I was younger, there was a period when that wasn’t the case. In fact, my father almost got forced into using me for a political marriage. Luckily, he figured out a way out of it and eventually managed to deal with his opponent.”

  “That must have been a relief for you. Was that about the time that your mother was poisoned?”

  Shiro says “Actually, it wasn’t. My parents kept the whole thing from me until after it was over. Yes, that would be around the right time frame. At least, that is what my father thinks happened.”

  Lin says “How old were you at the time?”

  Shiro says “I think I was around twelve.”

  Lin says “A political marriage at that age?!”

  Shiro says “I guess you haven’t dealt with many royal families? It is actually fairly common to marry that young. The same is true for nobles. They don’t want to wait for their kids to grow up, not when they can use them now.”

  Lin says “That’s horrible!”

  “It is also something that we need to consider when talking about having kids. Our kids would definitely be targeted.”

  Lin says “It is something that I didn’t think about. Mainly because I didn’t know things were that bad.”

  Shiro says “Wait, are you pregnant?!”

  Lin says “No, I’m not, not yet. We are just discussing the possibility.”

  Shiro says “Oh, that’s too bad. If you had a daughter we could betroth her with my brother and improve the bond between our nations.”

  Lin says “You would betroth them as infants?!”

  Shiro says “Sure. It is fairly normal. They wouldn’t actually marry until fourteen or so, but it helps to keep others away. Not only that, but the relations between our nations would grow closer for the length of the engagement.”

  “We don’t need something like that. The relationship will grow as long as your father agrees with my current plan.”

  Shiro says “Now I am curious. I don’t suppose you will tell me what this plan is?”

  “Nope. You can wait until your mother and father are here.”

  Shiro says “In that case I am going to go see what is taking them so long.”

  Shiro rushes out of the room which makes Lin giggle and accuse me of doing it on purpose. However, for once she is wrong, with her in my arms I have no reason to be in a rush. Unfortunately, before things can get interesting Shiro returns with her mother and father.

  Lin and I get up to greet them, but the emperor and his wife stop us by hugging us. Shiro doesn’t seem surprised, in fact she joins in and takes a turn hugging each of us. Once everyone has hugged, we sit down on two couches opposite of each other to talk.