He looked down at his empty glass. "One of the other ways in which I am different from my father," he said. "I am not interested in marrying where I do not love."

I spoke in a jesting voice. "And of all the women in the eight provinces, you have not been able to find one you could love?"

Now he looked at me again, and his face was completely serious. "That's the problem," he said. "There is one.

Author: Sharon Shinn