The man turned to him. “The ambassador will be here in a moment. Would you like some wine?”

“N—” Dell cleared his throat. “No, thank you.”

The man issued a short bow and retreated from the room.

It wasn’t long before something thumped down the hall. Seconds later, Princess Camille appeared. Her serious face showed no warm greeting as she sighed. “Edmund…” She said his name with no emotion. “He just can’t keep himself out of trouble. What about you, Dell? Are you prepared to get wrapped up in that man’s insane ideas?”

“I—” What was he to say to that? He wanted no insanity in his life. Before Edmund, he was content working his fingers to the bone every day, getting the adrenaline rush of an occasional street fight, and then losing himself and his memories in his carvings. He touched the pocket sewn into his shirt where he always kept his carving knife and his latest wooden creation. In the past few weeks, he’d needed to be healed—again, pulled a knife on the crown prince, and spent time with the palace mistress while she was dressed as a boy—for whatever reason.

“I’m not sure,” he finally admitted.

Camille sat in a chair opposite him. “Well, get sure. Edmund doesn’t play games, boy. I’ve known him for years—hating him for most of them—and he never backs down from doing what he thinks is right.”

There’d been little chance for Dell to do the right thing over the years. His brothers forced many poor situations on him. But his mother would have wanted him to stand up for something, to be more than a working grunt with no family.

She’d want him to put his faith in something.

He lifted his eyes to meet Camille’s dark gaze. “I want to do right too.”

She pursed her lips and nodded. “I know what it is to feel as if you have no family. Only, in my case, I was wrong. I didn’t agree with my brother on a lot of things and betrayed him. But Alexandre forgave me. Do you know what I learned?”

Dell shook his head.

“Trust is the most valuable commodity in the six kingdoms. My brother married me off to remove me from the palace. He could have chosen an ogre of a man. Instead, he chose someone who was kind and loyal. My husband fought for my family with every breath. I didn’t love him, but I always had faith in him. It’s funny, Alex wanted to get rid of me and I ended up staying at the palace longer because of it.”

Dell wasn’t sure what this story had to do with him, so he let her continue.