Disclaimer: I'm not Tamora Pierce....I'm just borrowing her world.

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"Liam of Conte you get out here right now," King Jonathan of Conte yelled, hammering on the door of his son's bedroom. Sounds of scuffling occurred, then the door opened, revealing a younger, more rugged looking version of the king.

"What?" Liam drawled.

"What?! What?!" Jon yelled, nearly turning purple. "Do you have Lady Marian in there?!"

"Um," Liam looked in his room, then whispered at his father, "She's the blond that was introduced at court today right? Fresh from the convent written all over? Buxom?"

"Yes," hissed his father.

"Yup. She's in here."

"Her father is chomping at the bit. If he finds out you de-flowered her—"

"No way I got there first," Liam said, interrupting his father's rant.

Jon rubbed his forehead. "Get her out of there now. We need you in a meeting anyways. Get dressed."

"Sure. You want me to make her sister go home too?"

Jon took a deep breath and then released it. "Yes," he said through clenched teeth. "Meeting. Soon." He turned and stormed away, walked into his meeting room and slammed the door behind him.

"What did he do now?" Thayet asked, her voice amused.

"On the way to get him, I ran into Lady Marian's father, frantic because he couldn't find his daughter. She was in Liam's room, as was Lady Marian's sister," Jon responded.

Alanna snorted, and Jon glared at her. "What?" she said. "You can't blame the boy for being your son."

After sputtering for a bit, Jon finally spat out "I never went through eight women in a week."

"Alright, I'll give him some credit. There's enough Thayet in there to make him smart enough not to let any one woman, like say a Delia, sink her claws into him."

Jon glared at his champion. "We need to find him a wife. I think we should accept the Princess from Saren. The uncomfortable situation between Tortall and Saren has disrupted trade for long enough."

"Excuse me," Thayet said through clenched teeth. "That man murders K'miri. We are not making any sort of treaty with him, and his daughter is not marrying my son."

"He's agreed to make fairer treatment of K'miri part of the pact. Towards those ends, the laws hurting the K'miri have been lifted for the last eight years. Our spies say the K'miri are well-treated. The King of Saren needs us to, and he realizes harming the K'miri won't help him. It's time to make amends. After this war with Scanra, we need the money from the trade. A marriage between Princess Kendra and Liam will help ease relations and increase trade and let us exert pressure so that the K'miri stay safe. It also might give Liam some stability, which the boy needs."

"Will he do it?" asked Buri, the K'miri former Commander of the Queen's Riders.

"Yes," Prince Roald responded. "Liam is many things, but duty still drives him completely. He is a commander. He will be my general, one day. He'll do what's right for his warriors and this country. He knows what they need now is money as much as anything else. We need the money, Mother. Saren is the only country we can get more money from. They have had peace for awhile now and the immortals didn't reach them. Their royal coffers are full enough for a big dowry so we'd have money fast and the trade would increase for long term monetary increase."

Thayet sighed. "Fine. Why don't we invite a delegation here to discuss a possible marriage, and have her come as well, along with some K'miri to vouch for the better conditions?"

"Agreed," Jon said. "Gary make the contacts."

"What's agreed?" Laim asked, walking into the room dressed, though still slightly disheveled.

"We're bringing Princess Kendra here from Saren. You're probably going to marry her."

"Sounds good," Liam said, plopping down in the chair. "Make sure you get a big dowry."

"That's it," Jon said incredulously. "You have nothing else to add to this discussion?"

Liam thought for a few minutes. "What does she look like?"

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Oh god. I am so excited about this story. People reading Raoul's Girl, don't worry, I haven't dropped it, but the plot for this story just occurred to me all interesting in perfect and I just had to write it.