“You do not answer to Chaldean Reihana. And I trust this was not her intent in any case. She is not your only advisor.” As if he needed to remind her. Mikino had proven to be a constant, but he could not save her from this. Not now, when his eldest child was born to another.
Maybe he had entertained the thought once, but the fact remained, even then, that he was a poor match for her. It would secure no new alliance, grant no stability. He had always made for a stately enough figure, evident now as he leaned back in thought, resplendent even in these quiet moments in the sanctuary of his walls. Mikino Alcaeyn was the picture of masculine perfection, with those exquisite wings shimmering to frame his form. “I must confess, Sidonie, in this you will find me in agreement. You need an heir. I will do what I must, but you must realize by now, if I wanted your crown, I’d have sought to take it, one way or another.”
He had an interest in her favoring the right man, of course. It would not do for Judgment to clash with any particular suitor. “Would it be so terrible, Sidonie? I have wondered why it is you have not pursued this sooner. You are taken enough with my Shayleiah. You would be a good mother.”
It wasn’t the sort of compliment she could expect to hear often, not the flattery thrown her way by would-be suitors. If Mikino complimented her dress, her hair, some such part of her, he always did so with a bored drawl that made it more teasing than anything. That old game of theirs, exaggerating all the things expected of them. It had felt like acting out a play for their parents back then and now they simply had a larger audience. “And marriage is not to stifling a thing as you might think, if you choose well.”