“I am Memnon the Indomitable,” he announces, “King of the Sarmatians.” King? I echo softly, a wave of vertigo washing over me. Memnon has never mentioned anything about being a king. But right now, he certainly looks it with the circlet on his head and the gold decorating his scale mail and weaponry. He carries more wealth on him than most people in this city see in a lifetime. He continues. “My people are fierce, and my kingdom is vast. And today”—his gaze returns to me—“I’ve come to make this woman my queen.”
