I love going into Books blind. The cover suggests one thing, and then the story inside is so different. In this case, I loved it. Is this a space adventure? Yes! But at heart it’s a romance novel. This romance novel is between Prince Keim and Count Jainan, in this space adventure, marriage is a contract and often used to bring two worlds together. With the resolution (galactic contracts) fast approaching the emperor must make sure that her treaty bond with the Thean planet and people is strong. To do that, she must marry their representative to a member of her family. This is a game of politics, but like any good love story it does have a happily ever after. The author can paint a realistic fantasy world, where some things feel like the earth we know, and someplace we don’t, but were named for things missed or remembered.  For example, in Iksat, a bear has six legs and scales, but it is still just as deadly as an earth bear. When this book isn’t on Iksat, it’s out in space and it’s full of adventure, political intrigue, a little bit of mystery and a lot of heart. It does have a few slow points where it feels the 400+ page is that it is, but not often the reader wants to get to the happily ever after. The reader wants to know if their assumptions are correct. This was a wonderfully divergent space story that was nothing I was expecting but everything that I needed.