I'm sharing from A Dance of Water and Air (which will be out on October 1st!) again. This week's snippet follows not long after last week's. Arden and Larkin are discussing Edmund and the alliance between their two kingdoms that is negotiated to include a marriage between Edmund and Arden's sister.
Water magic. The entire royal family of Thalassa possessed the power in some measure or other. It would pair well enough with their own Air magic. The two Elements didn’t clash, and the child produced would end up with one or the other. It would be odd for someone with Water magic to rule Aither, as their family had had only rulers skilled in Air magic for generations. “His House hasn’t married outside families with Water in the bloodlines, have they? Or at least not in a long time.”
“They must really want this alliance.”
“Yes. I wonder if their situation is worse than they’ve let on.”