"Since you aren't king yet is anybody going to be obnoxious about it?"

"They might be, but also, Zevros is my brother."

"And I," says Zevros, gleefully, "will invite the obnoxious people to the room with all of my swords and knives, and then clean them, one by one, while staring at them silently. They'll ask if they can leave, and I'll say no. I've made a man piss himself, it's great."

Shell Bell snorts.

"Teamwork is a beautiful thing."

"And, um, when you get married, whenever you find a person you like who would like to be queen, whoever the queen is won't kick us out?"

"I really don't think that's going to be a problem," says Zevros dryly.

"I - don't think I would want to marry someone who would just kick you out."

"Okay. Because I can't ever be totally sure that my luck with doors will hold and it's not even very good luck, I've gone more than a year without a door before."

"Bell," says Edarial gently, "I'm not going to strand you in my world and then abandon you."

"I - just want to make sure all the possibilities are addressed."

He nods. "I understand."

"You'll be fine," says Zevros. "Really. I'm pretty sure Ari would fling himself off of a tall bridge before booting you out into a foreign country without anything more than a 'bye, bitch.'"

"That would be pretty extreme and I do not advise it."

"Darn. There goes all of my plans. They're ruined, I have to start from scratch."

Shell Bell laughs.

"Whatever will I do now. I was so set on jumping off a bridge, too."

"Please don't. I'd be sad."

"Oh, well, in that case, I'll refrain."

"Thank you."

"Mhm. Anytime."

"It would probably also be pretty hard to become king, if you jumped off a bridge."

"Nah, he'd be the ghost king, his rule would be eternal. And occasionally he would poke his head through walls and go 'Boo.'"

"Woooooooooo, I am the ghost king, here to poke my head through walls and say 'Boo,' and also to help jumpstart the economy, ooooooo."