“I am on your side,” Holden volleyed back, and the others laughed or sneered, to varying degree. “I am,” he insisted. “Can we remove emotion long enough to remember how we all felt twenty years past? We came here, to Termonglen, expecting a feast and celebration, and instead every last one of our lives were put on a new course. Some of you were promised to others before. Some of you were in love with others.” Khallum noted that Holden avoided landing his intense eyes upon his wife. “We lived with what we were dealt, and we made lives of it. Some of us believed King Khain when he swore to us and our mothers and fathers that he did this not to punish but to unite and end the disputes, even if we didn’t agree with his chosen course. We were given a fortnight to respond to King Eoghan’s unreas
