“Ah, yes, there you are! You, pour some more wine for our guests,” Galen interrupted to call out to a passing servant, avertinghis eyes from mine. I bit down on my lip to hide the surge of frustration.
“Thank you, but I don’t need any.” I put a hand over my glass, bumping into the servant’s arm. A gasp slipped out when the cool red liquid spilled across myself and the table. Jumping to my feet, I grabbed a napkin and began dabbing at the small pool of wine.
“I’m so sorry; I didn’t see you,” I said to the young girl.
“Don’t bother, Clarissa. That’s their job.” Galen waved a hand to usher me away from the mess.
Annoyance flared inside me again. I shouldn’t have expected anything different—a king born into luxury with servants waiting on him hand and foot from the moment he drew breath. I probably would’ve been the same way, had my father remained the emperor, and I’d grown up in the silver spoon-fed environment of the palace.
But I hadn’t. And I wasn’t in the habit of justifying poor behavior in those who treated others as less than.
“It’s not a problem. It was my fault, anyway. Here, let me help,” I said to the servant girl. Taking the clean cloth from her hand, I dried my arm and sopped up the remaining liquid, which had stained the rose-gold satin fabric of my gown. I ignored the pointed stares of the lords, but I could feel one in particular—a guarded icy blue pair of eyes that hadn’t left my skin since I first arrived.
The servant bowed to me before she scampered off to get more wine. Another pair of footsteps echoed from the interior dining hall, causing me to peer over Thorne’s head to find his mother striding toward us. She wore a blood-red gown that trailed behind her, with sheer sleeves that fell past her wrists. Her brown-and-gray hair was no longer in a bun but hung loose down her back, the top half slicked back and collected in a clip.
“I apologize, Marigold’s nanny was late,” she said in her clipped tone as she came to a stop at Thorne’s side and leaned over, brushing her cheek briefly against his. “I assume I haven’t missed anything important.”
“We were just about to discuss details of the tour, Azura,” Galen said smoothly.
I blinked. No, thatwasn’twhat we’d been discussing, but one stern look from my mother told me this wasn’t a hill I wanted to die on.
“Yes, thetour,” Azura Reaux repeated, her eyes shifting to mine before taking a seat next to Thorne and across from my mother. “We will have our hands full keeping these two boys in line for the next few weeks, won’t we?” she said to Mother and me, pasting on that same tight smile from earlier.
I looked between her, Thorne, and Galen, finally resting on her son. “You’re coming with us?”
“Surprised, Empress?” Thorne responded as he brought his glass of water to his lips. I tried not to notice the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed, or how that curious necklace he still wore swayed and brushed against a hint of dark hair at his chest. Something hot fell from my cheeks to my stomach, pooling there as a reminder of my irritation.
Ignoring him and his cocky tone, I took a sip of wine and turned to Galen. “When will we be leaving?”
“In the morning. We have a rather full itinerary. Lord Davies, can you fill Her Majesty in on the festivities?” Galen nodded to the white-mustached man at the other end of the table.
Lord Davies rifled through a handful of parchment. “Yes, Your Majesty. You will depart early tomorrow morning for the Mid Territory and arrive by the evening, where you’ll dine with the Silenus regent family and stay with them for several days. They have plans to take you through their planting district and host the annual Harvest Tournament and Festival at the end of your stay. You’ll then journey to the Penworth Estates in the South Territory.”
“Both Silenus and Penworth will be tricky,” the other man, Lord Sadim, interjected. He stroked his thick chin and leaned forward on the table. “Dion has been difficult to work with, even with Vespera attempting to calm him. And Rhys Penworth’s territory has been divided ever since the announcement was made.”
I furrowed my brow at the onslaught of new names and places I didn’t recognize, trying to pick out the important pieces. “What does that mean? What announcement?” I asked, turning to Galen.
He licked his lips. “We sent a formal proclamation to the territories to inform them of your impending arrival. Not every regent has been…ah, fully accepting of me bringing someone of your…descendancy to our shores. Dion Silenus and Rhys Penworth, regents of the Mid and South Territories, have been loudest. But you shouldn’t worry,” he rushed out. “That’s what this tour is for. To show our people they have nothing to fear in welcoming you to our kingdom.”
My eyes swept the table. Lady Reaux hummed softly into her glass of wine, meeting my gaze with an unreadable expression. I caught Thorne staring at Galen with a furrowed brow. His strong jaw tightened, as if gritting his teeth to refrain from saying something.
I couldn’t figure these people out, and it was like an itch under my skin.
After spending most of my formative years and all of adulthood learning how to read people, how to find out what made them tick, how to keep their loyalty and ward off the untrustworthy, I’d grown adept at seeing beneath the surface. The twitches, the eye shifts, the forced smiles. The hidden meaning behind words. The kind tones laced with venom. Desire, anger, envy, truth.
Something was wrong. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
My mind swam with what the two lords and Galen had said. I’d been so focused ongettinghere, on the idea of leaving my home and traveling somewhere new, I hadn’t given much thought to what would happen after the fact. These regent families I’d be staying with, the people I’d meet, this new place with their customs and celebrations and expectations hanging over my head…what if they didn’t evenwantto ally with Veridia? What if they were like Drakorum, with their ideals of a land closed off from others? What if they refused to put the past behind us?
Lord Davies continued, oblivious to my mounting innerturmoil. “Arrangements have been made to tour the jewel mines in the South Territory and visit the coast before a celebratory ball in your honor.”
“The ball will be very important,” Lord Sadim interrupted again, pointing his finger in the air. “The last opportunity to gain the favor of Lord Penworth and those loyal to him.”
A weight sank in my chest, pressure rising.
“After that,” Lord Davies said, “the trip to Zeloria’s territory on the island will take about a day by boat.”
Galen chimed in with a soft snort. “I’ll be interested to see what the islanders have planned for us.”
