Seize the Fire by Laura Kinsale Page A

consideration."
    Olympia simply could not think of anything to say. She had spent the past fortnight working herself up to clear one looming series of fences and throw herself into the murky and terrifying landscape of the future beyond. Now it was as if, while she raced toward them with all her courage in hand, the barriers ahead and the mount beneath her had evaporated into thin air, sending her tumbling down some endless drop to nowhere. Her mind could not comprehend the change.
    "Shall I list the cold-blooded advantages?" he asked. "It blocks your uncle's attempt to wed you, of course. It strengthens the ties between your country and mine. I'm not a prince by any standard, but apparently I enjoy some current popularity in Oriens; they all seem to think I'm a hell of a fellow for fighting Turks. I'm told it would be…acceptable…to your grandfather. It eliminates the need for you to go on a wild chase to see the pope, and it means Oriens can be spared your revolution. A constitutional state can be set up through legal means, which is exactly what our friend Lord Palmerston is hoping for."
    She gripped her hands in her lap and nodded. It was easy enough to see all that. If she reduced it to the moves of a chess game, there was no doubt the plan had a better chance of winning than her own. It was sensible; it was safe; it had her grandfather's blessing and the backing of the British government.
    And she wanted it. God help her, she could hardly think for wanting it. She could not look at him, for fear she would burst into foolish tears. To marry Captain Sheridan Drake: to be his wife, to give him her heart and her life, to find the most cherished hidden dream of her existence made suddenly real…
    "Why?" she said to her white fingers. "When you agreed to help me before, it was amazement enough to me. But this …" She drew in a breath. "Why would you sacrifice yourself, throw away your whole life, for another's country?"
    "Need you ask? Wealth, position, power…" He paused. "All the usual reasons for marrying a princess."
    "You're making game of me."
    He was silent a moment. Then he said, "Have it as you will. It must be because I'm a hero and a true friend of liberty."
    She looked up at him then. The silvery aura from the window fell across his face, lighting a translucent, pale fire in his gray eyes. She could identify no telltale trace of humor or mockery in his features. There was simply his austere male beauty, that sullen perfection marred only by the little scar across his left eyebrow, which showed more clearly in the thin winter light.
    "Now you make game of yourself instead," she said. "And you have not answered my question."
    "I have." His mouth curved upward at the corners. "I've given you two perfectly good answers."
    "I don't understand you." She shifted impatiently in her chair. "I've told you I often find jests to be obscure, haven't I? Please be serious."
    He inclined his head. "Excuse me, Your Highness. I shall attempt to govern my unseemly frivolity."
    "Thank you." She watched him for a moment. When his face remained perfectly grave, she said, "Please…I don't wish to be pompous. I only want to understand. It's very difficult for me to believe, you see, that you're not being forced into this." She bit her lip. "And I would hate that above anything."
    "I have told you I'm not."
    "But—"
    "Do you accuse me of lying?"
    Olympia drew back a little at the sharp demand. Then she sighed. "Yes. I think it's very possible you might lie. In this case. To spare my feelings."
    He looked at her steadily.
    She added, "You know there will be no wealth or power or anything of the sort for me after the dissolution of the monarchy, so that cannot be your reason. Even if I would think such a thing of you." She glanced down at her hands. "And I realize that my person is not very—attractive. I'm quite too plump, and my mouth is too small, and my eyebrows are too heavy, although I suppose that defect might be remedied by