"He's not boring, just his tastes. He tells good political bedtime stories, just they are political bedtime stories. And you really shouldn't meet him."

"How come?"

"His head would make you sad."

"Why?"

"The Enemy held him prisoner and tortured him for fifty years and he's not okay and is never going to be okay and he mostly tries not to let anyone guess."

"Oh."

"Never?"

"Don't think so. Some day we won't be able to tell the difference, though."

"Don't read his mind."

"'Kay."

"Need a hug or something?"

She nods. "He's really--never ever? Isn't there something you could do? Anything?"

"Win the war. Odette's doing that. Give him powerful magic. We did that too. Apparently he's kissing his cousin, maybe that helps."

She makes a face, but sighs. "Okay. If it helps."

"I am pretty sure he wouldn't risk it otherwise."

"Why's it risky?"

"People will think they're doing something very evil and both of them will have a harder time ruling their people."

"...Evil because they're cousins or because they're both boy cousins?"

"Both boy cousins. I know that people are wrong."

"It would be bad for them but not evil if it was because they were cousins," she nods.

"That strikes you as a more reasonable taboo?"

"I mean I guess it doesn't matter as much if they're both boys and not mutants and your terrible gods won't help but inbreeding is a thing!"

"Mostly a human thing, I think. But if they were first cousins instead of half-first cousins people'd frown on them for that, too, it'd just be way less important than them both being boys."

"And that's dumb," she nods.

"It is. But my brother cares a lot about winning the war and I don't think he'd break even dumb rules if the risk weren't worth the benefit."