“Of course, my lord.” The manservant bowed low and withdrew.

Winter reached for her own cup and took a deep breath, savoring the aroma, before tasting it. It was, as she’d expected, rather good.

Janus remained quiet, staring into his cup, and finally Winter felt it was incumbent on her to start the conversation. She cleared her throat, and the general looked up.

“I have to ask, sir,” she said. “Was that wise?”

“What?” For a moment Janus looked as though he’d genuinely forgotten what he’d just done. “Oh, the business with de Ferre. Of course it was. The man is an oaf.”

“And a count. The rest of the Royals aren’t going to be happy.”

“They’re going to be even less happy in the morning.” Janus set his cup down. “The performance of the army was, frankly, unacceptable.”

“We did win the battle, sir. Didn’t we?”

Janus waved a hand. “Only because Baron di Pfalen is an utter fool. A triple convergence, with no lateral communication, in a polyglot confederation army without a real chain of command?” He snorted. “We could have done nothing at all and watched the whole thing collapse under its own weight. I daresay you could have outgeneraled di Pfalen when you were still clinging to your mother’s knees.”

Winter, who had no memory of her mother, forbore to comment on that.

“Someday this army will go up against a real commander,” Janus went on. “I know there are a few out there. The Duke of Brookspring, for one, and there must be others. Even a stiff-necked geriatric cabal like Hamveltai High Council can’t rid themselves of every man of talent. When that day comes, we need to be ready.”

“You think we need more training, sir?”

“I’m afraid it goes beyond that. Yours was not the only set-to between Royals and volunteers, you know. The Second Infantry actually fired a volley into the Third Volunteers when some fool thought they’d changed sides.”

Winter winced. “But you have a solution in mind?”

“I’m reorganizing the army. The royal regiments are too large, and the volunteers need to learn to work as part of a larger force. We’ll break up all the old units and create new ones. Each new regiment will have one volunteer and one royal battalion. Getting to send all these thickheaded colonels packing is a side benefit.”

“Some of those units are hundreds of years old,” Winter said. “They’re not—”

“Going to be happy. You mentioned that already.” Janus smiled, just for a moment. “The colonels won’t be, and some of the other noble officers. They’re welcome to resign and take their case to the deputies. But I think the men in the ranks will be glad to be rid of them.”