The Palace of Impossible Dreams by Jennifer Fallon Page A

you took her from Cycrane in the first place to save her from a marriage to an immortal with his eye on the Caelish throne? If I take her back, wouldn’t that just be handing her over to her enemies?”
    â€œLet’s
not
!” Nyah suggested vehemently.
    Declan was unmoved. “One way or another, the immortals are going to try to take the Caelish throne, and Nyah’s absence, which has probably slowed them down a little, has only staved off the inevitable rather than prevented it.”
    â€œBut we
can’t
prevent it,” Nyah said. “That’s why Ricard Li asked you to hide me here in Glaeba in the first place.”
    â€œAnd the longer you’re gone from Caelum, the more chance people start believing you’re dead. Once they believe that, the throne is anybody’s for the taking.”
    Stellan nodded in reluctant agreement. “I take your point, Declan, but I still don’t see the reasoning behind it. How will returning Nyah to Caelum prevent precisely what you removed her to avoid?”
    â€œWe took Nyah from Caelum to prevent her getting married to Tryan. If we send her back and she’s already married, then there isn’t a problem. She can’t get married to two men at the same time.”
    â€œNo, but widows can marry whenever they want. And I imagine that would be the fate of any young man foolish enough to accompany Nyah back to Caelum and announce he’s her husband. Who did you have in mind as this walking corpse, anyway?”
    â€œYou.”
    Stellan put down the vegetable knife. “You cannot be serious.”
    â€œI’ve never been more serious.”
    â€œI’m already married.”
    â€œActually, you’re dead, Desean. You don’t even own that name any longer. So we’ll make one up for you. We’ll give you a history. I can get word to a few people I can rely on and can probably even send you over the lake with a few trustworthy retainers. You can grow a beard. I can show you how to bleach your hair. Tides, now I’m immortal, I can probably command a whole bunch of Crasii to lie about who you are and claim they’ve been in your service for years.”
    â€œBut there are people in Caelum who know me, Declan. The
queen
knows me.”
    Hawkes dismissed his concerns with a wave of his hand. “People see what they want to see, Desean. Trust me—you’re dead and died in prison a suspected sodomite. Nobody will associate the crown princess of Caelum’s new husband with the dead and dishonoured sodomite from Glaeba.”
    â€œWhat’s a sodomite?” Nyah asked.
    Stellan gave Declan a look and then turned to Nyah, but before he could say a word, Declan said, “It’s the reason you’ll be safe with Stellan as your husband.”
    â€œSafe from what?”
    â€œI believe Declan is trying to tell you I won’t force myself on you, Nyah, because even if I could come to terms with the Caelish custom of having sexual relations with children, my preferences lie elsewhere.” He met Declan’s gaze defiantly. One thing this nightmare of recent months had taught him was that he was over lying about who and what he was, even to a child.
    Nyah looked at him in disgust. “You mean you prefer . . . like . . .
old
people?”
    Declan choked and turned away.
    â€œ
What
?”
    â€œWell, you said you don’t agree with our custom of marrying when we’re still children, and that your preferences lie elsewhere. Does that mean you’d rather, you know,
do
it, with old women?”
    Declan looked fit to burst something. And despite himself, Stellan smiled. Good intentions were one thing, but sometimes the reality was just too difficult.
    â€œI’m afraid so,” he said with a sigh, not daring to look at Hawkes, whowas trying desperately not to laugh. “My wife . . . she was . . . almost thirty. And still it