Steve’s kingdom was bounded on three sides by the sea. Its wealth came from the port cities, trading, fishing. The livelihoods of the people came from the sea. Their survival was dependent on their relationship with the ocean, and the war threatened to destroy both Steve’s kingdom, and the neighboring sea kingdom as well. He had no idea how it had started, really, the war. His mother, the queen, was convinced that the class of wealthy merchants had begun it out of sheer idiocy, convinced that a sunken ship had to be the fault of some merfolk. They’d killed some in response, hung their tails on the bows of ships.
How could the sea kingdom not respond? Ships couldn’t sail safely, fishermen came home empty-handed, if they came home at all. It would destroy both if they kept this up. The marriage wasn’t Steve’s idea, but he accepted the idea quickly. This had to stop. And...these were the types of sacrifices it was his job as a prince to make. That was what his mother had taught him, and Steve knew that she was right.
He stood out at the edge of the dock with the queen, several nobles, court advisers, waiting to meet his future husband. “I know this isn’t what you wanted,” Sarah said quietly to him. Sarah Rogers was as good a queen as Steve knew any to be, her strength and resolve matched only by her kind nature.
Steve shrugged one shoulder. He’d always been a closet romantic. “This is more important than what I want,” he said. He smiled over to her, hoping to convince her that he was okay with it.
