King Juozas II nodded his head, the rare movement assuring the eye that he was indeed not a statue or some automaton with a voice box. He had liked the alliance that Lady Eleanor had proposed. It was one in which Liegalla was not the junior partner, as Liegalla would doubtlessly be with Mediama, or the Amarion Union or a host of other nations who had advanced far and grown large and economically and technically interconnected with the rest of the world while Liegalla had been in isolation.
It was not that King Juozas did not value these friendships, indeed he intended on appointing a new Ambassador to Mediama in order to formalize their relations and make use of their mission to modernize Liegalla’s military. But friends they may be, as partners, their relationship was far too unbalanced for King Juozas to hold more than arms length apart. There was also the nature of Mediama, their democratic system and their elective monarchy.
In selecting Catherine as her partner, Zieda was choosing to ally herself with not a dynasty, but a nation, which had both its costs and it benefits. One particularly large cost that the King now sought to mitigate.
“It will be contingent on such a marriage,” King Juozas said with his signature cold force of Will. He was saying things that will happen. Not might. “It will be contingent on your marriage. And your position. As the future queen of Liegalla.”
