"I want you to marry Lady Aurelia."
For a heartbeat, Valerian wondered if his ears had deceived him. His brows furrowed, the faintest flicker of disbelief crossing the steel-grey eyes that had faced down kings and storms alike.
Surely, this was some jest....a whimsy from a boy who had spent too long in Caelmont's vaulted halls, his imagination stoked by courtly tales.
"This is not a joke to be taken lightly, Vaelric," Valerian said, his voice low, a quiet rumble that carried warning.
His features....youthful still for a man of eight-and-twenty, yet sharpened by years of command....tightened into a frown.
"I'm not joking, Father."
The boy stood straighter, his chin lifted with a stubborn pride that mirrored Valerian's own.
"You made an oath to me in the name of the Storm God Vireon....that whenever I called upon you to fulfill it, no matter how absurd the request, you would do so without question."
