“Is it a mistake?” I held upmyhand, stopping him from speaking. “I’m not suggesting I want to back out of this.”
“It would be permitted. Expected, even, I might add.”
“Tell me the good and bad things about doing this for them. I want to make sure I’m looking at this from every direction.”
“And this is why you’ll make an excellent queen. One of the best, if notthebest, for many generations. Perhaps the one who can . . .”
“Can what?”
He blinked a moment before his face smoothed. “You’ll make an excellent queen. Did I mention that already?”
“I haven’t even been crowned yet. For all we know, I’ll mess up all the time and insult one person after another.”
“Part of your appeal, if I may be so bold as to say, is that you’re not of this court, that you’re not truly of any court. A queen who was raised in a mountain fortress, training dragons and battling fearsome creatures, will serve Evergorne much better than a woman who cannot . . . how shall I say this? Who cannot see how rules and situations impacteveryoneinside her court, not just the high lords and ladies. But taking three lessers and giving them such status . . .”
“Why will it be a good thing?” I asked.
“It will show that in your heart, everyone here is equal. You can’t imagine how heartening that will be to those serving in this court, myself included.”
“You’re a high lord.”
His eyes sparkled. “I assume you would’ve made sure I was if I hadn’t been born into the status.”
I grinned. “You’re right.”
His smile fell. “Sadly, there are many more reasons why you should reconsider.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “It creates chaos and will disrupt those who have known their roles here from the day they were born. This could foster discontent within the court.”
“They’ll get over it. No one is better than anyone else.”
“But some are. You’ll be queen. King Merrick will always hold his lofty role.”
“Until he dies when he turns thirty.”
His face froze, and he stared past my shoulder before he shook himself like Farris might after a bath. “Then there’s the housing situation.”
“No one has taken the ladies’ suites on this level. They’re waiting for me to select my attendants and move them in.” I’d looked into it already. “There’s no reason it can’t be the three I’ve chosen.”
“You’re right in that respect.” He sighed. “It also creates worry in the court.”
“Worry about the curse?”
He paused again, staring off into the distance before his gaze returned to me. “Many will worry that you’ll take this further, that you’ll make changes that will not only impact their own status in the court but their wealth and property.”
“I can’t see myself doing anything like that.”
He’d ignored my mention of the curse and Merrick potentially dying at age thirty, which was only six weeks away, for fate’s sake.
“Just think long and hard about this,” he said, rising. “If you feel this is what you want to do, then you have my complete support. I, for one, believe this court has needed a fresh start and that you’re the best one to do it.”
“Thank you.” I rose as well. “And thank you for all your help with tomorrow’s events. They’ll go smoothly solely because of you.”
“Thankyou, my lady who I will soon be able to rightly call my queen.”
“I wish we could use first names between us.”
“We’ll discuss it in a few days. Until then, I must depart. So many things left to put in place. Can you believe that the head chef actually suggested we serve haunches of roast marscapole?”
“Never. We’re not killing, let alone roasting those fluffy blue creatures.”
