I drink in the sight of these two men, and I could get deliriously drunk at their intoxicating attractiveness. The hostility they obviously bear toward each other is frustrating, and I hate that I’m excited by the energy.

They are barely veiling their insults toward each other now, and it lights a fire in my blood. I want them to be civil, to resolve this. I know they are both well-respected leaders and yet…I daresay they are each losing their cool. I feel powerful to know that not only do I want this bickering to end, but that I will make it.

“Please, don’t burden us with more of your silence, Nathan,” Vincent says, narrowing his eyes and gripping the stein of beer with more force than necessary. “It’s better we hear what shit you’re up to rather than let you simmer in it in your silence.” His words are seething. I can’t ignore what they mean, but I can’t have them. No matter how hushed and separated our position is now, we need to be able to make it through this dinner without the entire betrothal being destroyed before it can totally take off.

“Vincent, I’m sorry, are you worried you simply can’t keep up?” Nathan sneers at Vincent.

I place my wine glass down on the table, softly brushing my thumb over the stem and glancing at both of them sternly, my brow arched disapprovingly. Their ill wills fade from their faces, and I don’t have to say a word. They don’t want to disappoint me. They know they are misbehaving.

“When you’re quite done, we’ll dance… And you’re both done,” I say calmly. I won’t tolerate this behavior. “You two will be civil. In public, in private. Or did you not enter this alliance, the both of you?” I ask, and I keep my voice calm. The truth is that I am terrified that my ignorance of men and my indifference toward them leaves me unprepared. There are only two things in this world I haven’t been trained in.

Men, and actually being a ruler.

Sure, my mother, the queen, had me learn everything else. I never cared for men, and she never cared for sharing the crown or teaching anything of it…

They are each smiling at me. Vincent’s smile has a soft, gentle purity in it that’s barely veiling a hunger in him that I see; I can practically feel it emanating off him in waves. Nathan’s smile is achingly charming, and I know he intends it to be that way. Behind his cocksure glance there’s a warmth, too.

How can one woman be so lucky as to have two men, sworn to marry her and lead by her side, that are taken with me and so damned attractive? I mean, of course they hate each other. Something about this whole arrangement had to be less than perfect, or I’m certain the universe would just be out of balance.

“I’ll have the first dance, a show of my willingness to maintain the kind of civility we should have been showing our future queen and wife,” Nathan says. Ever the charmer, I feel the heat he’s put into the those words. I know it’s still somewhat pointed at Vincent, the way he’s said this. Yet there’s something… a raw need in the way that he stands and extends his hand to me.

The music is something so delightful that I can forget every care I’ve ever had in the adept hands of Nathan, his arms and body leading me around the dance floor with absolute precision. His body seems to feel the music, at one point I think I see him notice a keystroke that’s off, and I think he seems pleased with it.

“Do you like it, when live music isn’t always perfect?” I ask. It isn’t until the words escape my lips that I realize that I’m almost breathless, my voice sounding whisked away by the air. It’s true, he’s spun and twirled and dipped me about so much that I’m utterly taken in the moments.

“Yes, I do.” Nathan is charming, silent, mysterious, but I feel the admission in his statement.

There’s a low thunder within his soul that I feel roll off him in waves, loudly crashing against my psyche. “I very much look forward to getting to know you,” I offer, and I squeeze his hand in mine so that he can feel the earnestness I hope is clear in my voice.

Before Nathan can say anything— and I don’t know if he even would have—Vincent is there. I feel his presence just seconds before I see him, and I can’t believe the thrill rising in my body at just his appearance now. My hands tingle to feel his touch. I want him. I want Nathan. How can this all have come on me so suddenly? I’m grateful that I’ve had such a strong, pleasant reaction to them both. I want this marriage, this alliance, to work.

“I’d like this dance,” Vincent interjects. I’m thrilled that he says this to me, not to Nathan. I demand they get along, and I also demand that they don’t treat me like anything lesser. After all, I am also a royal. I deserve to be treated as an equal and not as the wife they’ve commandeered for political reasons. Even if they couldn’t respect each other without it getting in their craws, at least they are both doing their best to respect me. I can appreciate the effort. We don’t all have to have perfect relations right away. With an arrangement of two people to be betrothed, that would not be expected. So with two people marrying the same woman? Of course, there are going to be some initial bumps in the road to smooth out. We’ll get to that.

Vincent takes my hands and starts to dance with me, a more athletic but less graceful kind of movement. He’s used to being the big, bad man in charge of everything. Vincent takes charge of my body and directs me across the dance floor, and I feel safe when he touches me. There’s a heat between us and we both do our best to enjoy it, despite all of these odd circumstances.

I notice Nathan watching us dance, and I’m surprised to realize that, while it definitely rankles Vincent, I enjoy knowing that he’s watching. I’m being touched by one of my husbands-to-be and watched by another, and I think I’d like that scenario to play out in the bedroom.

Mmm, the thought sends a delicious thrill right to my pussy. My sweet boys will place the attention on my body and won’t have time to be at each other’s throats. It’s a sweet sort of bedroom diplomacy that I’m so not above engaging in. The idea really turns me on, actually, and I hope that the next song will serve to cool me down some.

“Would you like to walk with me in your palace gardens tomorrow morning? I’d… like to see them,” Vincent says. I can tell that he’s looking to be honest with me, despite the fact that he wants to go to the gardens. Perhaps the fierce general is also into romantic strolls?

And I definitely have no problem with that. I take his hand and feel calmer just thinking about it. I want to be able to breathe in the air around us and not feel like everything is so heavy. The dancing calmed my nerves until it built them up again, and I remember Vincent’s nerves at being watched by Nathan.

“I’d like that, yes,” I say, taking Vincent’s hand he’s offering me. I squeeze it for a moment and release it. “I’m retiring for the night, but I’ll see you in the morning for that walk.”