“Or the first move of a budding offense,” I retort.

Elisa smiles.

“What did you have in mind?” Hector says.

“I’m not sure . . . maybe . . .” I glance around the room. Everyone meets my gaze except Lord-Commander Dante, whose sole focus is the door and protecting everyone inside.

That’s it. That’s what I want.

I say, “Send me to the Guard.”

“What?” says Lord Dante, forgetting about the door for a moment.

But Elisa seems thoughtful.

“All royal princes spend a year with the Guard recruits, right?” I say, warming to the idea. “Rosario did. So why should it be any different for me or Princess Ximena? Hector, you’ve taught me how to defend myself. I know it was just to . . . help me with . . . to stay calm and . . . channel certain tendencies. But I learned. And I’ve trained with Spymaster Belén, sparred with Rosario. I could probably hold my own.”

Hector also appears thoughtful. “Oh, you could hold your own,” he says.

“Hector,” Elisa says, though she’s looking at me. “Has there ever been a woman in the Royal Guard?”

“No!” Lord Dante says.

“Yes,” Hector says. “Once. A few years before I joined. She dressed as a boy. Posed as her brother, who had obtained an actual sponsorship. When she was discovered a few weeks later, she was immediately sent home.”

“For being a girl,” Elisa says.

“For lying,” Hector clarifies. “For showing up on recruitment day under false pretenses, with a false identity. It was considered treason. King Nicolao chose not to execute her, I’m glad to say. He just sent her home in disgrace.”

“So there’s no law forbidding a woman to try for the Guard?”

“None at all.”

“Your Imperial Majesty,” the lord-commander says, “tradition is a powerful thing, and I don’t—”

“The safest place for me,” I interrupt, “aside from being with the main contingent in Orovalle, would be here, with the remaining Guard.”

“Red could do it,” Rosario says. “You’ve all seen how seriously she’s taken her training these last few years. All of her training.”

“We could spread the rumor that it’s a punishment,” I say. “For failing so utterly. That as a consequence for betraying the crown with my monstrous beliefs, I must redeem myself and devote my life to defending it.” The words sound bitter, even to me. My beliefs should not be considered monstrous. It’s not like they hurt anybody.

“This year’s class is going to be particularly talented,” Conde Juan-Carlos says. “My younger brother will stand for recruitment. Some promising young men are transferring from the army recruits. And I hear that Queen Cosmé of Basajuan is sending a few lads with potential, as a show of fealty to the empire.”

“Even better,” I tell him. “No one will be able to say I made the cut only because it was an uncompetitive year.”

“Captain Bolivar will not go easy on you just because you’re a girl,” the lord-commander says.