He glanced at the table again before taking a deep breath and sighing. I didn’t know what it might’ve been like when they’d gone to war with their neighbors in the past, but I had to assume everyone played a role and knew their part. Hydris didn’t have tobe versed in every aspect of combat to say stop. They just had to listen when he did, and it sounded to me like they would.
“Your Highness?”
We both looked over to find his four advisors standing side by side and facing him.
“We should like to reaffirm our fealty to you,” the Lady Anezka said before she curtsied so low that she practically had her nose on the floor. “I am your servant, Your Highness.”
Naunet, Ottokar, and… What was his name? The spellwork guy? Well, they all bowed low and said the same thing. I was glad for Hydris—he needed to know there was a team of people behind him.
“Would you appreciate,” Hydris asked, “having a reversal of the order I gave some time ago that had your spouses removed to your estates?”
All four of them exclaimed like he’d startled it out of them, but it was clear to me that they were all missing someone. Ottokar even wiped away a tear, and I knew Sarosh was going to be so happy.
“Alright,” Hydris said, “I reverse my order. And I apologize.” He cleared his throat. “I should like to reverse or modify other orders you disagree with, if you’ll tell me what they are.”
I gently scooted him along toward his throne, very much wanting him to sit there and be the prince I knew he was. He rolled his eyes, but grinned as he sat down, his advisors now standing in front of him. I stole the chairs from around the planning table and had them each sit down. They seemed to appreciate that.
I sat with them but off to the side, not sure of my role or if I had one at all. Being Hydris’s head cheerleader suited me fine, but I was also crazy curious to see how all of this worked. Or was supposed to work when it wasn’t being run by a lunatic on a power trip.
“At the border with Winter,” Hydris said, “the people there talked about a tax…”
“To fund the war,” said the man whose name I couldn’t remember.
“Ah. We’re going to cancel that then.”
Lady Naunet said, “There are other recent taxes that seem excessive. Lord Valborg, there was one on common spellwork ingredients, was there not?”
Valborg! That was his name.
They discussed the taxes, Hydris listening intently and asking questions before rendering a decision. He wasn’t struggling with any of this, in my opinion. Maybe he never had, but thought he had? It was clear he didn’t know about some things, but I didn’t think he needed to know everything about everything. He was catching up just fine on all that Mannix had done without him, too.
They canceled taxes, changed what one tax funded, and then Anezka asked that their assistants and advisors be allowed back into the room. That caused a whole lot of activity as we let everyone in and found enough chairs for all of them. Now it really looked like things were going to get done, and I wasn’t sure my heart could get any fuller.
When Naunet suggested they break for luncheon, I hustled over to Hydris to check in with him. He immediately smiled up at me.
“Did you see?” he asked. “We’re doing so much good!”
“I did see,” I said on a laugh. “You’re a natural at this.”
“I didn’t think I was. I thought I was terrible because of how much I didn’t know.”
I’d thought so. “No, come on. Nobody knows everything. Just the fact that you’re letting everyone explain what they know—what they’re good at—is excellent. They’re excited to share with you because you listen.”
He fluttered his wings to bring him up high enough to kiss me. I held his cute face and kissed him back and…the words just flowed right out of me.
“I love you so much.”
We blinked at each other for a few heartbeats. Then he wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist and giggled as he looked me in the eyes.
“I love you, too, Bridge.”
Almost instantly, another of those strange explosions sounded. I clutched Hydris to me, and we both flinched.
“Whatisthat?” I complained. “Is there a volcano about to explode?”
“A what?”
“You don’t have volcanoes? A mountain that has molten rock inside that sometimes explodes out of it?”
