"Agreed?" Richard asked Nancy.
"Yes, agreed. My father had no choice but to agree or else face the destruction of his kingdom," Nancy gritted her teeth. "But my father also tried to delay. He told the demon that I was too young, and that when I turned sixteen, I would be sent to the Blue Lion Kingdom."
"Hmm," Richard said, "you're sixteen this year, but you didn't go."
Nancy didn't ask Richard how he knew, probably figuring it out didn't matter. She said, "Correct, I didn't go. From a young age, when I knew I might have to marry a stranger's son, a demon's son, I swore I would never let him succeed. If he did succeed, I would kill him when he married me, in his sleep at night!"
"Uh..." Richard's expressionless face turned towards the sea outside the deck, to where the sky met the ocean, where dawn's light was breaking through.
