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I turned and saw what he’d been looking at: Rheya’s Gallery bead, shining on the vanity. By the time I turned back, Goren had stormed away, and Valeria was watching me with a probing intensity I now recognized as the Arcus family gaze.

“Thank you for the food,” I said, interrupting her assessment.

She blinked back into the moment and smiled. “You’re welcome.” Then she wheeled the trolley past me, the aromas whirling in with her: crispy-skinned roast chicken over creamy mashed potatoes, caramelized vegetables, cubes of white melon sprinkled with mint, and a milk pudding with a hard sugar crust.

I shut the door, stomach growling. “You didn’t have to bring it up yourself.”

“Keil is at the palace today.” Her fingers ran along a thin golden chain around her neck, a bright ruby hanging off the end. “He had private business with Rheya.”

My heartbeat fluttered as I realized what Goren had meant before. She even has the two of you serving her like this is a luxury inn. Though my brief glimpse of the estate had revealed a bustling workforce, Keil must have been bringing my meals up himself.

“He left this for you,” Valeria added, handing me a note.

Rest up, Keil had written. We leave tomorrow at midday.

Bright anticipation flared within me.

Tell me what you need, he’d said in the carriage.

I need a meeting with the person who recognized Erik’s symbol, I’d replied.

He must’ve gotten me that meeting. Though, judging from Goren’s sightseeing remark, the others probably thought we were shirking Rheya’s orders to honeymoon around Ansora like lovesick fools.

Valeria’s quick eyes tracked my sudden blush. She also tracked how I set the note on the dresser: folded to hide the text.

“Arun said something odd.” I leaned back against the dresser. “That the Banarrati might never let me go.”

“Ah.” Her lips flattened in grim understanding. “While Banarrat comes under the Ansoran flag, its generals have acted as the island’s official regents for centuries, and they’ve always feared that the monarchy would seize control. So, in return for Banarrat supplying their forces to our front lines, our monarchy used to gift the island with tributes from the Ansoran court each year as a goodwill gesture; it was believed that as long as mainlanders resided there, the monarchy would never march on Banarrat. Rheya abolished the tribute system when she came into power, but General Holden wants to reinstate it.”

“He wants to be gifted with courtiers? As though they’re possessions?”

“The reality wasn’t quite so callous. Tribute courtiers were always volunteers, and the Banarrati leaders treated them with respect and generosity, plying them with luxuries. Many nobles even lobbied for relocation to Banarrat despite its proximity to battle.”

I cringed. “It still sounds brutal.”

She raised a brow. “Doesn’t Daradonian law still permit the use of oath bands?”

“Daradonian law doesn’t exactly represent a good moral benchmark.”

Her features softened with amusement. “Fair point. Speaking of brutal, good work with Goren.”

I scoffed. “Yes, I was very successful at getting him to despise me even more than he already did.”

“He despises most people.” She pilfered a melon cube and said around a bite, “Might as well give him a reason.”

“Does he live here?”

Valeria nodded. “And Dashiel. Guess which one is more pleasant to live with.”

A smile twitched around my mouth. “Are they your knights?”

“Dashiel is. His father was a knight of this household, too. Dash grew up with us and will claim to be eternally traumatized by the experience. It’s hard to constantly play the buffer between squabbling twins.”

“You and Keil are twins?” I asked, oddly delighted. “Who’s the eldest?”

“We don’t know. Royal property is inherited by seniority, and our parents wanted us to one day rule this household equally. So they refused to tell Rheya which of us was born first. And now the estate belongs to us both.”

The blatant rebellion spoke again to Rheya’s affection for insolence.