Sean and I stood to the side in our robes with the hoods up. To an outside observer, the two of us looked faceless, silent, and motionless. This drama would need to play out without interference. Strictly speaking, we shouldn’t have been here, but I had gotten paranoid about Kosandion’s safety. Sean had always been paranoid, so it worked out.

Vercia raised her head and hit Kosandion with a punishing stare. Even sitting down, Kosandion was tall, and the raised platform of his throne put him six feet above Vercia’s head. She managed to look down on him all the same.

This wouldn’t go well.

“I see you’ve finally caught on,” she said. Her voice was deep, her delivery confident. She didn’t seem even a slight bit nervous. No, she’d been looking forward to this confrontation, and now she relished it. Everything she had done was deliberate.

Kosandion had turned into a statue. He sat motionless, as if he and his throne had merged into a single entity that was the Sovereign. When he spoke, his voice was even and measured. “Why?”

“Five months, Kosandion. And here I am, in the exact same position I was prior to our liaison.” She glanced at Orata. “I should have her job. That was the least you could have done in the way of compensation.”

Orata bristled.

The Sovereign’s voice turned cold. “I wasn’t aware a relationship with me required compensation.”

“Oh please. A relationship with the Sovereign, the man who will give you an entire five percent of his attention. A man who is never available, who is absorbed in work, who makes it clear on the first encounter that he places limits on feelings. A man who explains that you’re good enough for sex and occasional casual conversations but that he will never commit to more. Whatever crumbs of his attention he doles out will be on his terms and schedule. What was that phrase you used? ‘Managing expectations to avoid misunderstandings’ and ‘incapable of a serious relationship.’ What woman wouldn’t be delighted?”

Resven opened his mouth. Kosandion tapped his armrest with his index finger, and the chancellor’s jaw clicked shut.

“You pursued me,” Kosandion said. “I agreed to meet with you to discuss it. I was honest with you, and you assured me that what I offered was enough. You were not forced. As I recall, you were enthusiastic.”

A muscle jerked in Vercia’s face. Her control slipped. Caldenia would’ve never allowed herself a lapse like that.

“Before we slept together, I was a rising star,” she squeezed out. “After, I became an incompetent fool who had access to the Sovereign for 5 months and failed to garner any political advantage from it. You’ve turned me into a laughingstock. When Parseon and you were over, he became a Third Rank Minister.”