I am unfit to be the wife of the Sarmatian king, and soon all his people will know. What terrible thoughts poison your mind, Memnon says. Many outsiders marry Sarmatian nobility. This has always been our way. No one balks at this, just as no one will balk at you, he reassures me. But I also do not think you see yourself as my people will see you—radiantly beautiful, the kind of beauty that makes men’s knees weak. And ferocious, with your tamed panther. And then there is your magic and the wild, wonderful things they will see you do with it. No, Roxilana, I am certain my people will be just as
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