The Lynx Who Purred for a Sidhe Prince by Scarlet Hyacinth

Skylar
    seemed a bit taken aback. Perhaps he hadn’t realized the true meaning of the law he’d mentioned.
    “What in the world?” Corbin asked, speaking for the first time
    since they’d entered the office. “What do you mean wed him?”
    “We Sidhe have always been a very conservative people. Many of
    us are still purists to this day. A long time ago, when the Sacred Law was written, this tendency was taken to the extreme. There is a
    proviso in the oldest texts that allows for inbreeding between
    relations, and even encourages it, especially amongst royalty. One
    particular point of the same law was that if the heir of a throne is too young, the eldest of his close relatives will act as a king until his coming of age. However, if the heir in question were to wed an older
    relation, he would be able to become king and take the crown in spite of his age.”
    “This copy of the Sacred Law doesn’t mention you wedding
    Sterling. The translator must have gotten in wrong.”

    The Lynx Who Purred for a Sidhe Prince
    47
    “But it must have mentioned a wedding of sorts anyway,” Corbin
    protested. “How can you even suggest something like that? Winter
    never meant any harm. He is family now.”
    “Corbin, I understand your point, but now is not the time for such
    emotions,” Byron replied. “As much as we appreciate Winter for his
    own merits, we will never surrender Shea, and that means war. If
    Winter can do something to prevent it, I would expect him to make
    the sacrifice and act.”
    In a way, Winter agreed with Byron. He’d always known that as
    royalty, he’d be expected to marry one day, but even so, he’d
    foolishly hoped it would be for love and not an arrangement. Byron
    was right. Feelings didn’t matter here. Facts did.
    “That might be true,” he replied, “but my uncle would never
    marry me. There’s simply no way.”
    “And it would defeat the very purpose of the arrangement.” Skylar
    hummed thoughtfully. “Is there anyone else you can wed?”
    Winter thought hard, considering the rest of his family tree. Most
    of his older relatives were already married, and those single didn’t like him very much. He thought that he might have a cousin that
    would be willing, but he hadn’t seen the man in five years. He didn’t know if the guy had taken a partner or not.
    “I’d have to look into it,” he replied, doing his best not to think
    about what he was agreeing to. He felt horrible about this whole
    thing, especially with Corbin standing right there. Why couldn’t
    Corbin be Sidhe? Winter would gladly marry him.
    Winter shook himself, shelving that thought in a corner of his
    mind reserved for impossible dreams. Corbin deserved better than to
    be thrust into a world of political intrigue. Besides, the lynx might care about him, but the responsibility of a king’s consort was
    overwhelming even for a Sidhe. Not to mention that such a position
    carried a lot of danger. The Unseelie rogues were forever attempting
    to overthrow the reigning royal family, and for a shifter to get into that sort of thing was pure madness.

    48
    Scarlet Hyacinth
    Why was he even thinking about it? It could not be. The best thing
    he could do was to contact his cousin. The Sidhe had long ago
    stopped marrying their kin, but the man would probably agree just the same. After all, there was no law saying they actually had to
    consummate their union. They could both have lovers on the side if
    they so desired. Personally, Winter couldn’t imagine loving sharing
    his body with anyone except Corbin, and he’d never force the lynx
    into being a side dish.
    All these thoughts whirled in his mind, and he knew he wasn’t
    being very coherent in response to Skylar’s query. “There is one man
    who might accept,” he finally managed to say, “but I’m not absolutely certain.”
    “Over my dead body.” Corbin’s voice was low and dangerous.
    “You’re not marrying anyone else but me.”
    Winter turned toward