“Not with a man as old as King Otho,” Thea retorted.
“What does it matter is he is old or young?”
“It matters to me! I have to marry him – not you!”
The King then lost his temper.
“How dare you speak to me like that?” he roared. “You will do as you are told and I will have no nonsense about it!”
“What will you do?” Thea asked. “Drag me to the Altar unconscious? I swear I will not say the words that will make me ‒ his wife!”
Her father now went crimson in the face.
“Dammit!” he screamed. “You are enough to try the patience of a Saint! You will do as you are told, Thea, and that is my last word on the subject.”
He looked at his daughter as he spoke and realised that she was still defying him.
She was small and fragile-looking, yet at the moment there was a strange resemblance betwee
