War Bride

Princess Kathryn hadn't expected to actually marry her kidnapper.

Kathryn would have done her duty as it was laid before her - she'd fantasized only briefly about shipwrecks and daring rescues, or the carriage breaking a wheel and necessitating that they turn back - on her way to her wedding. The price of a princess's privilege was that her life was not hers to command, but at the service of her people. That didn't mean that she couldn't have quiet complaints about marrying someone nearly her father's age, as Duke James of Slesian was.

Old King Mark of Mivaria had outlived both of his sons, and their sons as well. While the throne might pass through a royal daughter, like Kathryn's mother, King Mark's youngest child, the law of the country stated that the land would have no Queen regnant, unless her husband were crowned beside her. Duke James of Slesian and Count Ewan of Thwentis had equal claims to the throne, being descended from Old King Mark's daughters, but their claims were inferior to Kathryn's own, both being descended from the old king's sister, who had married King Luke of Thuirene and borne two children before passing.

Rightfully, Kathryn's older brother should have taken the throne, but the idea of giving up their independance to unify with another Kingdom, an ocean away and subordinate to a foreign Crown, had very nearly sparked calls for a Republic. Or a loose alliance of Grand Duchies, if the local nobility clung on to their power.

The easiest way for either potential heir to strengthen their claim was to marry Kathryn, so both had immediately set sail across the Inland Sea to petition for her hand in marriage.

Count Ewan, the son of Old King Mark's elder daughter, had courted Kathryn with a sweet but roguish charm, while Duke James, son of the old king's younger daughter, but adopted by his step-father who likewise had a matrilineal claim, had sought King Luke's good opinion. Kathryn's father had chosen the Duke, over the loud objections of both Kathryn and her brother.

James of Slesian probably had a number of good qualities, but he hadn't bothered to show Kathryn any of them while he toadied up to her father. Ewan of Thwentis had at least made an effort to impress her specifically.

A week's voyage over the Inland Sea, and another few days through the mountains that bordered the Mivarian coastline, were all Kathryn had to dream about what might have been... until her convoy was attacked by Count Ewan, and she was whisked away to Thwentis Keep. A priest had been waiting to marry her before she even left the carriage, and very polite kidnapping aside, Kathryn had weighed her choices and the hasty and ambiguous marriage contact and consented.

Beside her, Kathryn's husband stirred. "You still haven't explained how you're going to persuade my brother not to go to war over this."

Ewan smiled lazily. "I won't need to, it was his idea."