# Chapter 27
News of the engagement moved through Valoria faster than any official announcement could contain it.
By the time the palace released a formal statement, most of the country had already heard some version of the story — the soldier from Sanjara, the princess he had once saved without knowing who she was, now set to become something considerably more permanent in the kingdom's future.
Reaction was not universally warm.
"There will be resistance," Reyes warned, during one of the smaller planning meetings that had become a regular feature of palace life. "From the nobility. From certain factions in Parliament who will view this as a dilution of tradition they've spent generations protecting."
"I'm aware," the King said.
"I want to be certain you are, Your Majesty. This will not be a simple wedding. It will be, for some, a referendum on what this monarchy is willing to become."
Elena, present as she now insisted on being for every difficult conversation, spoke before her father could.
"Then let it be a referendum," she said. "I am done pretending this family's choices exist only to satisfy people who have never once had to bleed for this country the way Angelo has."
The King studied his daughter for a long moment, something like pride settling into his tired features.
"Your mother said almost exactly that, the week I proposed to her," he said. "Sixty years ago. To a council considerably less understanding than the one we face now."
"What did you do?" Angelo asked.
"I married her anyway," the King said simply. "And Valoria survived considerably better for it."
---
The formal opposition arrived a week later, in the shape of Duke Halvard, an aging nobleman whose family had advised the Valorian crown for three generations, and who made no effort to hide his displeasure during a private audience with the King.
"A commoner," Halvard said, not quite disguising his distaste. "A foreign soldier, with no lineage, no estate, no claim to anything beyond a single afternoon of good fortune."
"He saved my life," the King said evenly. "And my wife's. And my daughter's, twice over."
"Gratitude is not governance, Your Majesty. Marriages of this house have always served the stability of the crown. What does this serve, beyond your daughter's evident affection?"
Angelo, present at the King's request, finally spoke.
"With respect, Your Grace," he said, "I've spent my entire adult life serving something larger than myself, without ever asking what it would earn me in return. I don't intend to start asking now, simply because the thing I'm serving has become a family instead of a flag."
Halvard's expression flickered, something almost like respect briefly crossing his disapproval.
"Pretty words," he said. "We shall see if they survive contact with the responsibilities you're proposing to take on."
He left without further courtesy, but the King, watching him go, allowed himself a small, satisfied smile.
"He'll come around," he said. "Halvard always does, eventually. He simply requires the dignity of appearing to resist first."