My court finery was stifling in the autumn sun, but I kept my back straight and my chin level. This was the most important day of my life thus far, and if I couldn’t look much like a princess—tall and square and knock-kneed as I was, rather than dainty and graceful—I could at least act like one.
Prince Tristan glanced over his shoulder at me, teeth flashing in a grin, and I smiled back. It was never hard to smile at Tristan, so sweet and brave and open-hearted, not to mention handsome with his dark curls and golden armor. We’d grown up knowing we were betrothed, but only today, on my twelfth birthday, was a formal contract signed.
My betrothal official, my household separated from my mother’s, and myself received by the Court as part of the government of Caibryn; as I said, an important
