Annalise took a deep breath to collect her thoughts before she started speaking again, "Every royal agreement needs sacrifice from at least one of the parties involved, and since our empire was the one to ask for your help, we needed to make that sacrifice."
"A marriage alliance is always considered the best guarantee for any agreement and considering I was the only royal princess who wasn't already married, I was chosen as the candidate for your bride."
There was a long silence following her explanation before Damien finally spoke, "Is that all?" His question made her finally turn her face to look at him.
"Do you think it's not enough of a reason? Let me remind you again, My Lord - I'm the only daughter of the Grand Duke of the Seelie Empire and one of the princesses of the land. My family is devoted to putting the empire first and we did exactly that when it was needed. Besides, the royal edict didn't give me or my family much of an option."
