“Obviously,” I snap.
Stalking for the door, I then cross the threshold while my advisors and guards quickly follow after me. One look around the space has my blood ready to boil.
Ravinger sits patiently at the head of the long table, his guards a wall of silent menace behind him.
It takes all of my practiced mannerisms not to snap at the audacity of this man. The tic in my jaw is the only slip-up that reveals my irritation.
Even so, somehow, the bastard sees it. As he relaxes back into his chair, a smirk curls his lips. It’s a look that says,your move.
My advisors share a glance between them, but I move around to sit at the far end, theotherhead of the table. Damn it all to the Divines, I don’t care if it does put twenty-four feet between us. I refuse to sit at his side like I’m lesser.
After I take a seat opposite him, my soldiers stand at the wall behind me, backs against the plum-colored wallpaper. The light is dimmer here, only a single window at my left, the panes covered with starburst frost.
As soon as I take my seat, I begin to speak, cutting off his chance to do so first. “It appears we have a problem, King Ravinger.”
He dips his head. “On that, we can agree.”
He’s right—because we aren’t likely to agree on much else.
“You sent rotted corpses to my borders.”
That smirk comes back. “And which borders would those be? You seem to have accumulated more since last I knew.”
I tap my finger on the armrest of my chair to keep myself calm.
“Myborders at Sixth Kingdom, as you well know. I am simply acting monarch here until Fulke’s heir can come of age.”
His green eyes gleam. “Indeed.”
I bristle at his tone, at his very lackadaisical demeanor.
Ravinger leans forward, the markings on his neck and face unnerving. For a moment, I think I see them move, just as the rotted fissures outside slithered across the ground when he was showing off his magic.
“If you’re looking for a formal apology, you won’t get one,” he tells me. “They weren’t evenyoursoldiers, they were Fifth’s. Yet I thought it best to deliver them, considering your alliance with this kingdom has been so vocal. I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea, King Midas.”
“And what idea would that be?”
“That I am someone you can cross.” His statement lands bluntly, a strike of strength without even moving.
“And I’ll remind you that I haven’t crossed you. Sixth Kingdom has no qualms with Fourth.”
Ravinger lifts a hand and glances around the room. “And yet, here we are, in Fifth, right at the center of aqualm.”
If I could only reach across the table and choke off his miserable throat, rot-filled veins be damned.
“King Fulke was dealt with,” I say, not letting him ruffle me. “Unless you want to murder an innocent boy for his father’s sins, Fifth Kingdom is no longer your enemy. It was a last-minute attack from an eccentric king who’s now dead. I had nothing to do with it.”
“I have reports that say otherwise.”
All previous amusement is gone from his face in a blink. In its place, there’s something dark. Deadly. I’m reminded in an instant of how powerful he really is, which is exactly what he wants.
Despite myself, I feel a chill raise the hairs at the back of my neck.
“Your reports are inaccurate,” I reply steadily. I don’t dare look away from his eyes, no matter how much I want to.
One mustn’t look away from a predator.
“Are they.”
