Two Rivers Isle Last night I smoked a cigarette

Ulrich was disturbed by this information. So people do not marry for love where you come from, either? he asked, and tsked, shaking his head. That is a practice I plan to stop here and now. Any who wish to marry in this pack may do so, and I hope they marry for love. Being forced to marry someone you do not love--someone you probably do not even know is... despicable. He was thinking of Adylaide and all the nobles whose courtship had been forced upon her once she came of age. Knowing now with certainty that she had hated every one of those men made the whole thing just seem... disgusting. What if they had children one day? He could not imagine putting his own daughter through something like that, as if she were nothing but an object.

Goliad was speaking again, and distracted him from his thoughts. "But I do know what it is to be forbidden. You ended up taking what you wanted, whether directly or indirectly. That makes you powerful."

He smiled slowly, secretively. No, my friend, he said. I took nothing. It was Adylaide who did all the taking. She mistrusts her own judgment perhaps just as much as I do my own, but when she wants something, she goes and gets it. I tried to put off her advances, but she would have none of that.