“Lose on purpose…?” he asked back, his brow tensing ever so slightly, as if he had never heard those three words strung together as such.  Defeat of any kind was something that Kethaias could not tolerate.  It was a meager wager, though, one that didn’t have any true meaning behind it.  He could still bargain for the marriage.<br/><br/>And yet… what would it gain him?  If Ryland was so certain that nothing could convince him that he wanted the marriage, then why go out of the way to pacify him in this?  To show his<i>decency</i>?  To prove his face not<i>unfortunate</i>?<br/><br/>The rest of the family might’ve been more likely to approve, he figured, if he wasn’t always so grim.  Then there was the fact that, while the marriage was mostly a strategic move, he didn’t want<i>not</i>to be kind, at least not on purpose.  Then there was always the fact that he wouldn’t have thought about doing something so unfortunately king-like if he didn’t already like what he saw, and it would definitely be hard to bed someone who wanted nothing to do with him.  Kethaias wasn’t<i>that</i>kind of monster and had, in fact, spent quite a bit of his time defeating civilizations that approved of what they called marital right.<br/><br/>He drew up a deep breath, then let it out slowly as he considered relenting.<br/><br/>“Very well.  Perhaps I have been a little harsh,” he admitted softly.  “And I have purposefully held back for the sake of winning.  Losing on purpose, though...?  I’m not just going to summon up a fake smile to appease you.  It wouldn’t be real, so it wouldn’t have the same effect.  Besides, I think the terms of the bet were that you would make me smile.  So…”  He planted a hand on the table, just next to the bird, and leaned in closer.  “Make me smile.  I promise I won’t hold back.”