It wasn't going to be simple, then. He tried to think about it from Greengrass' perspective, tried to think about how it probably looked, but those considerations were drowned out by the constant stream of thoughts—the this will work and the he'll eventually understand what I'm talking about. All it would take is Greengrass seeing him interact with his cousin to understand how different their marriage would be from society's ideal marriage, which was rooted in romantic love and mutual affection. But then... Greengrass probably wouldn't want to meet his wife, not ever—probably not even at a ball, where introducing her would be customary. Valerian wished he could, but he just knew it would probably not end well.

"There are other places we could go as well," he said, stepping closer to Greengrass again, his frustration having passed. Now his focus was on convincing Greengrass how this could work—not trying to convince Greengrass why he should agree to it in the first place. "We could find another place. Somewhere she won't be." He wasn't sure where, and he wouldn't be able to avoid admitting that if Greengrass thought to ask—but he'd always been good at making promises. This was one, with time, that he could follow through on.

(This was, assuming Greengrass was around by the time of the wedding.)

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