Han gathered his thoughts, surprised to be asked his opinion. “I think it might have been smart to wait until after the coronation to pick fights with Lord Bayar,” he said. “It’s like poking at a wasp’s nest—do it enough and you’ll get stung, no matter how careful you are. Trust me, I know.”

“You! You should talk,” Raisa said, opening and closing her hands as if she wanted to wrap them around somebody’s neck. “Do you think you made any friends in there?”

“Oh, they hated me already,” Han said, shrugging. “Don’t get me wrong: I think you’re right to start with the army. Until you’re in control of it, you’re at risk. It’s like running a gang that’s blood-sworn to your second in command. You don’t dare dismiss him ’cause they’ll turn on you. You already know that Klemath will fight like a demon to keep control of the army. If Klemath and Bayar throw in together, all you got is the guard.” He shrugged, nodding toward Byrne. “No disrespect to Captain Byrne, but that’s what Queen Marianna had, and she’s dead.”

“Briar Rose, you can’t be serious about a marriage with Gerard Montaigne,” Averill said, giving Han a “shut up” kind of look. “Please—tell me you’re not serious.”

“As long as I pretend to entertain the proposal from Montaigne, that keeps him in the south and drives a wedge between Klemath and Hakkam and Bayar,” Raisa replied. “They’ve been in bed together too often recently. The Council of Nobles will side with my uncle, especially if mercenaries do the fighting, and the crown pays the bills. Lord Hakkam will spend at least as much energy trying to engineer a match with my cousin Melissa as in serious negotiations for my betrothal.” She rolled her eyes. “Until I can get control of these people, I have to keep them from ganging up on me.”

“Was that why you had Lord Bayar read it out in council?” Jemson asked, understanding dawning on his face.

Raisa twisted the ring on her finger, smiling grimly. “Klemath had certainly read it already. There’s no telling who else. That thing has been opened and resealed so many times, it’s a miracle it’s still legible.”

She looked pointedly at Han. “You were saying?”

Don’t underestimate this girlie, Han reminded himself. Don’t ever do that. Some bluebloods grow up fast—just like streetlords.

He cleared his throat. “I agree you need to push the thing with the army, chancy as it is. Soon as it’s safe, you ditch Klemath and put someone in place who’s beholden to you. So I think what you did was right, though maybe I would’ve done it at a different time.”

Raisa gazed at him for a long moment, then gave a quick nod. “Yes. Well. All right, then.”