“Do not hide what?” he asked, lying poorly.

I simply stared at him.

He withstood it for an admirable amount of time before he sighed and rolled to his back.

I went with him, perching on his wide chest and looking down at him resting on the pillows.

“I am torn,” he said to the ceiling.

I could imagine.

I’d been fully apprised of all that was happening…everywhere.

He looked to me. “I promised everyone everything.”

“You cannot give everyone everything,” I murmured truthfully, but drattedly unhelpfully.

“I do know that, my wife,” he replied on a sigh.

I tucked my lips between my teeth.

“We all meet tomorrow, and I must know before then what I will do,” he shared. “I have made my promise to Cassius. We’ve known each other for years. His rule is in jeopardy before he’s even officially assumed it, and half the population of his realm is in the same position, have been for centuries, and if he’s defeated, will remain thus. Mars may no longer be able to provide the support he promised as well, and with what happened today, knowing this Rising is at work in his land, I cannot blame him. Cass’s capital city is under siege. I cannot not offer him my armadas now that the unrest has sprung forth to actual campaigns. Especially as they’ve started with Sky Bay, where my ships might be of service.”

“Yes,” I agreed.

“But True’s mother was killed today and this Rising is an issue, we know, in at least two realms, and I cannot imagine the infiltration of it in Firenze and Wodell has not happened as well in Airen. Indeed, with the deviousness of this lot, they may even be operating on our island.”

I hated to admit it, but he might not be wrong.

“Yes,” I repeated.

His visage shifted to a scowl. “You are not being helpful, Ha-Lah.”

“This is not true. I am,” I refuted. “For I do not know these answers. I do not know what you should do. Both choices are the right ones, and from what Serena told us of the little she and Chu have been able to learn, I too fear for our own land. However, you are but one man and we are but one nation. Even the vastness of our armadas could not cover three realms as well as continue to protect our own.”

I pressed closer to him when I finished what I wished to say.

“What I can do is listen to you as you speak of it, share what limited advice I may have, and in this way, help you work it out on your own.”

“You have much more to give than that, my queen,” he returned, and the manner in which he did made me grow still. His hand came to my cheek and he dropped his voice when he went on, “You have had many opinions in the past, and showed no reluctance in voicing them. But now, when we have been made very aware of what is at stake, you have little to say.”