“Indeed, it is. With far better land and generous access to the sea.”

Across the room, several cheered and shouted out their agreement that Isolte was superior to any country on the continent.

“Then, Your Majesty, would it not be worth considering . . . gifting these scraps of land along the border to King Jameson?” At the mere suggestion, cries of anger arose from the room . . . but it was not as loud as I expected it to be, not nearly as dense. I raised my voice over them, over the minority. “Perhaps the king acts out of jealousy. Considering your many resources, one could understand it,” I continued, unsure if my attempts at flattery would work.

“If . . . If you give up these paltry pieces of earth, the size of your kingdom is hardly changed, and King Jameson would then be indebted to you. And! And you would find yourself remembered as a peacemaker in both Coroa’s history books and yours.” I swallowed. “Which I’m sure would be a welcome change,” I mumbled under my breath. Etan cleared his throat to cover a chuckle.

A hush fell over the room.

I stood there, waiting for someone to do something. Anything. Break into a laugh, draw a sword. There were too many possibilities.

“This is an interesting thought,” the king finally mused. “It would be nice to see Jameson groveling.”

Some in the room cheered rowdily.

The king waved a hand to his butlers. “See these men have fresh clothes and food.” Then, turning back to the soldiers, he continued. “You will stay the night as my guests, and I will tend to this dispute in the morning. For now, let us return to our festivities. My only son is getting married, and no one should disturb such a perfect celebration.”

He looked at me as if I’d climbed up on the bench at my own prompting.

The music began again, and I nearly clawed Etan’s ear off trying to scramble down from my perch.

“Could I please go back to the room now?”

“Certainly,” Etan said, his face clearly amused.

“Go fast,” I begged.

We exited the hall to an onslaught of attention, which made everything worse. Once we rounded a corner and the noise died down, I lunged for a large cistern and vomited.

“Couldn’t hold up the lady act all night, could you?” Etan teased, enjoying this.

“Stop talking.”

“I will say I’m impressed you made it out of the room alive, so maybe you’ve earned the right to throw up all the king’s fine food into his personal possessions.”

“I mean it. Stop.” I slumped down the side of the wall, trying to think of how I would explain the stains on her sleeves to Scarlet. “These are such a nuisance,” I lamented, holding up my arm. “I don’t know if I can keep wearing these ridiculous things.”

Etan came down and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me to my feet. “But you will. For now.” His tone was almost gentle. At least for him. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”