Angelica had been sitting in her office for hours already when her assistant, Malba, knocked on her door. “Security has just informed me that His Highness, the Grand-Duke Ludwig von Kröenenberg, is at the palace gates asking to see you, Your Royal Highness.”

She looked up but didn’t respond. I don’t have time right now, dammit.

“Should I say you’re too busy, Ma’am?” asked Malba when she didn’t answer immediately.

What can he want? Whatever it was, it would have to be brief. She had a meeting with her brother in fifteen minutes and Valantín was not the type of man to be put off easily. Knowing that if she didn’t allow Ludwig to entry by the normal ways, he would probably invade her rooms using his key to the tunnels, she relented, “I’ll receive him.”

As soon as Ludwig walked through the room, she was overwhelmed with the need to have him. His scent rolled over her, filling her senses. Desire ran through her, almost overwriting her intellectual need to remove him from her office as soon as possible.

He smiled as if seeing her internal struggle but bowed mockingly. “Good morning, Your Royal Highness. I hope you have slept well.”

She rolled her eyes at him.

As soon as the door closed, he took a few steps toward her but remained a formal distance away. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Of course not, but…” There was absolutely no reason why she couldn’t be honest with him. “Valantín will be here any moment. When he gets here, you’ll have to leave.”

“Of course.” He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “I knew that you would be unable to go to the site today. So, I brought the reports to you.” Then he offered the folder in his hand on her but when she didn’t pick it he put it on her desk. “You’re distracted.”

Talking with her mother had done that. But it wasn’t something she wanted to talk about. “I received some distressing information.”

Before he could ask her what it was, the door opened again and Malba stepped through. “His Majesty, King Valantín, to see Your Royal Highness.”

Angelica pulled her head out of her thoughts and rose, walking around her desk to greet her brother. “Valantín.”  

“Afternoon, Sister.” Valantín glanced at Ludwig, but took her hands in his, giving them a squeeze, and leaned down to place a kiss on her cheek. “I did not realize there would be others attending our meeting.”

Angelica closed her eyes and shook her head. “He was just leaving.”

“Yes, I was.”

Valantín held up a hand to stop Ludwig’s progress to the door. “I’m interested in his viewpoint on a few of the matters we need to discuss today.”

She didn’t realize there was anything on their list of talking points for which Ludwig’s opinion might prove useful. This was certainly unexpected—or not, since her mother had stopped by before. “I really think he should leave.”

Valantín shook his head and gestured toward the set of armchairs at the far corner of her office. “Nonsense. Please sit.”  

This is going to be disastrous. “I’ll have Malba bring in another setting for tea.”

“Excellent.” His battles with Angelica were usually accompanied by tea, Valantín thought helplessly, as he surveyed the tray that his sister laid out in anticipation of his visit. Cucumber sandwiches with the crust removed. Scones and his favorite apricot marmalade. Once, not so many years ago, he’d enjoyed them all. Now they lay, marshaled in grim rows, testament to an ongoing war.

Whatever this was, Angelica was quite certain there was no way it could be excellent. She requested another setting for tea, which was done in minutes by her silent and ever so efficient assistant who set everything on the table between them and left them alone, closing the door behind her quietly.

Valantín took a sip of tea Angelica handed him before speaking. “Siobhan will be arriving soon, but I think the timing is bad. There’s too much going on at present to risk additional drama in the palace. We’ll need to keep her quietly occupied.”

“I think she is going to be a positive asset to this royal mess we have gotten ourselves into.”

Valantín looked at his stepsister. “I do not see how Siobhan’s presence will make things any better.”

Angelica sipped from her cup. A breeze drifted through the open doors leading to the terrace and she longed to be out there with Ludwig. “She wants to be part of our family and know Aragon. Her presence will be most welcome. She can be seen as a falling star that has been captured by the sky and put in its rightful place.”

Ludwig shifted on the seat next to her. “I can see both sides. Bringing her here, under her newly minted status, could be seen as a way to bridge the gap between the people and your family, but some might see her being used as a pawn to win them over.”

“She is family,” Angelica said flatly, looking at her stepbrother. She was coming to know—and perhaps, even like—her half-sister and she didn’t want Siobhan to be treated like some trick to their people. She belonged here, with them. It was her rightful place, whether the people of Aragon wanted to admit it or not. If she was now a Lektenstaten princess or not. “Long lost family, but family nevertheless.”

“We do not want to use her Angelica,” Valantín said gently. “But some might see it as that, to weaken their anger toward us. If you wish for her to be part of this family, we will need to tread softly on how she is seen.”

“Perhaps she could make a speech then,” Ludwig suggested. “Give her side of the story, how much she loves the country and her new husband. Show her excitement, and people will sway her way. She’s truly sweet and appealing. Only the most cynical won’t love her. And she’s pregnant. She’ll have them eating out of her hand without even trying.”

“I like it,” Valantín stated, giving the other man a slight nod. “Siobhan is going to be well-received. Perhaps we should give the people time to adjust to her new status, allow her to do her own engagements.”

“But what of her safety?” Ludwig asked. “Angus has had enough scares and he will not—”

“She will be protected as we would. And your cousin is welcome to bring his own security,” Valantín said, draining his tea.

His sister—his much younger half-sister—smiled at him. But the expression her eyes reflected wasn’t hope or happiness; it was respect. She liked that Valantín was capable of standing strongly in favor of his own position, but then also able to see another side and change his mind. He didn’t have to be right at any cost, defending a position that no longer warranted it.

“More tea?”

“No, gracias.” Valantín put his tea cup on the table between them, with a suppressed sigh. He could direct the ministers of the kingdom without blinking. He had been facing scathing editorials and the hateful protesters for months. But this quiet room, with the pleasant burbling of the fountain coming through the window. Well, it vanquished him, but not much as his sister. Her lips were compressed in concentration as if she could read in him what he was going to say. He could at most hope to achieve a scrambling, ignominious retreat. But not this time.

“So, Ludwig.” Valantín crossed one ankle over a knee and leaned back. His eyes crossed with Angelica’s—and there it was, that damnable look in her eyes that said that even after all his missteps, his opinion still mattered to her. It made him wish he’d done one thing to deserve it—before he focused on Ludwig. “Do you intend to wed my sister?”