#occwick

there is a light that never goes out

based on the same premise as the occtien one

Effectively, to prevent more Tertia-like deaths, Occtis needs to convince more and more of his family - his House - to side with him. The best way to convince them is to make himself a Lord Candidate who they could follow instead of Primus.

Sensing blood in the water (via the knowledge from her demons), Yanessa approaches Occtis with a devil's bargain. She will help him in his bid for lordship if he married someone of her choosing. If he doesn't, well the Tachonis have kindly gone to great lengths to weaken themselves and House Royce. There's nothing to stop House Halovar from doing a clean sweep, which surely is an effort House Cormoray and House Einfassen might like to join her in.

Yanessa isn't even hiding the fact that she intends to make Occtis and his House her puppet. But Yanessa doesn't understand that Occtis has already faced oblivion. And when forced to make a choice between total but swift annihilation vs a drawn out and torturous death, Occtis won't flinch to choose the former. Occtis may have more to lose but he's less afraid to lose than Yanessa is. Yanessa wants this more than Occtis does.

Occtis leverages that to buy himself time. He says that he will only agree to this if he chooses his spouse among the Halovar. If he cannot, he will walk away, accepting death, and Yanessa loses out on a very lucrative sale. So Yanessa, greedy and ambitious, capitulates.