Trade tensions with the subcontinent had escalated. Piracy threatened the sea lanes, and rival empires circled like vultures. War loomed.

Instead, Zayd proposed a marriage alliance.

The match was politically flawless and personally dangerous: the Indian heir of a powerful coastal kingdom, a lineage as ancient as his own. The union would bind fleets, wealth, and legitimacy—but also place two proud cultures, and two heirs, into an intimate crucible.