Page 57 of Torin and the Two Crowns

The king raised his hand. “Laird Torin, enough. I would like tae hear from the Princess of Riaghalbane on this, please.”

Torin clamped his mouth closed.

“Dost ye feel the same way, Princess Alexandria?”

I nodded. I said, “Yes, Your Majesty. We had to act quickly and with stealth, we couldn’t concern ourselves with what trouble we might cause, it had been years, many battles fought, many lives lost. We didn’t involve you, but it is impossible to regret it. Even if you chose to further punish us it will have been⁠—”

Torin said, “Mo leannan, the punishment for this kind of treason is death.”

“Oh.”

I said, “Well, I don’t want that to happen, but… we gave you the castle. We did that without expecting anything in return.”

Torin added, “We arna the ones who hae been aggressive. We arna untrustworthy. Maximillian will be incensed.”

My mouth was so dry that I licked my lips. I blurted out, “I just, I’m very thirsty and hungry and this has been a very difficult meeting.”

Douglas said, “Yer husband lied tae the King.”

“He believed you were going to be unfair, he wasn’t wrong…”

Then, because I could barely think, I asked, “Torin, have you had anything to eat or drink?”

“Nae, but tis not the time, princess.”

I raised my chin. “As the Princess of Riaghalbane, I demand a drink and some food.”

The king called for food and drink to be brought to us, and we waited for a moment... I was swaying with faintness, but then a mug was put in front of me. Thank God. I drank two large gulps of the ale, and quickly felt warmth spread through me — a tiny bit buzzed. Uh oh, I thought.

I noticed Torin stared straight ahead and didn’t drink anything which made me feel weak as hell.

And then a trencher was put in front of me with a bit of food and a hunk of bread. It was eye-watering, drool inducing, so enticing. I couldn’t draw my eyes away. But this put me in a conundrum, because I wanted to shovel food into my mouth, but after that conversation with Torin yesterday I knew that eating in front of them would make me look weak. I picked up the piece of bread, took a bite, chewed, and swallowed, trying to look cool and nonchalant. I noticed that Dude had come in the room with the food and was now kneading on Torin’s foot.

In my periphery I could see that Torin didn’t move, didn’t drink, didn’t eat, just stared straight ahead.

He was a lot stronger than I.

I now had two end goals, keep the first aid kit to attend to him, because he had to survive this; and get to a satisfying end that meant I could sit down and eat in peace. And him too, I needed him to be able to eat and drink.