Forlana was just raising her teacup for Annie to fill it when her mage mentor, Benjamin, ran in, his eyes wide.

  “Ben? What happened?” she asked, holding her breath as she braced herself against the table. She knew that expression.

  Benjamin briefly braced himself against the table before he took a breath. “White Order mages raided the Birchhold and retreated with support from Eldecar’s army. They captured documents and a number of our fellows.”

  Annie, waiting tableside, gasped. Forlana winced as her nails dug into the varnished wood. Ripping her hand from the table, she flung her fingers to get the splinter out. “How—Were our guards asleep! That castle was reinforced! You and Alastor assured me mages had been dispatched to guard it while I was here!”

  “The raid had two hundred Lightning Battalion elite troops and was led by Morgan the Violet Princes and Hattie Sapphirewing. They overpowered the defenses, fought and captured Imperla and Elswith before they left.“

  “Imperla—Wait, the serial murderer Imperla? What is she doing there? What does she have to do with—” Forlana’s voice trailed off as Benjamin looked away. “Why the fuck is a known murderer in my castle?”

  “Imperla is—or rather—was under my employ, my dear wife,” said Alastor. He waltzed into the dining room, hands in pockets. “Again, we’re not officially at war with Roranoak, so dispatching one of our royal mages to the Birchhold isn’t something we could do.”

  Forlana’s mouth dropped open for a moment. Hating how unqueenly she looked, she shook her head and rose to her feet.

  “Alastor, with our marriage, my lands have become part of Lapanteria! If the White Order captured Imperla, then the Kingdom of Alavaria will find out and Queen Titania—”

  “Has repeatedly sworn never to embark on an offensive war in correspondence and in public. So what if Imperla tried—and failed— to kill Prince Teutobal? Can she justify plunging Alavaria in an offensive war to satisfy her own vendetta?”

  Forlana swallowed. She wished she were calmer, but her heart was pounding and her breath tore through flared nostrils as her mind ran.

  “Maybe not, but what makes you think she won’t support Erisdale with other means?” she asked.

  Alastor shrugged. “It was worth the risk. The discovery and seizure of those documents are annoying, but Roranoak is already at war with us and is exhausted. We can hold them back as we defeat Erisdale,” said the prince.

  Forlana blinked. “Defeat—Rowena hasn’t even provided her counteroffer yet. Why are we speaking of war?”

  Alastor’s smile cracked, and for a moment, Forlana froze as she glimpsed him not just scowling at her, but glaring with unabated fury.

  And just as she’d glimpsed it, it was gone, and his smile was back. “Ah, just a precaution, dear wife. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to meet with my ministers.”

  He grabbed a pastry from the table before walking off, leaving Forlana with Benjamin and Annie.

  “Benjamin, a privacy spell, please,” said Forlana.

  The mage drew his wand and sang a note to summon a green bubble around the trio.

  “I am your queen, is that correct?” she asked.

  The portly man dipped his head. “You are.”

  “Then why was I not informed?” she asked, barely biting back her scorn. She could scarcely believe the vitriol in her tone, but she could barely rein it in. Benjamin was almost like a father to her. He was the only father-figure she’d ever known, and he’d never lied like this to her.

  “I believed that so that we have some plausible deniability, it would be best not to advise you,” said Benjamin.

  “You will advise me of any so-called, controversies in our ranks! For the moment, I need to ask you and Annie a question. Please answer honestly,” said Forlana.

  Her two aides exchanged a glance and nodded.

  “Why do you want me on the throne?” she asked.

  Her longtime maid squawked almost as if she’d been offended. “What kind of question is that? You are our rightful queen!”

  Benjamin nodded. “I swore an oath to restore Erisdale to the rightful line of House Grey!”

  On any day, Forlana would have been satisfied, but the thoughts in her mind would not be silenced.

  “Princess Jessalise has an arguably better claim than I do,” said Forlana.

  Her mage-mentor snorted. “Her mother has foreswore any claim she has.”

  “Blood is still blood if that is your argument,” said Forlana.

  The portly man narrowed his eyes. Wiping his face with his kerchief, he asked, “Your Highness, what is the intention of this line of questioning?”

  Forlana swallowed. “I’m not sure why you want me to be Queen when, logically, there are better options for your safety and for Erisdale’s benefit. Say we depose Martin and Ginger. We will have to maintain their constitution and style of government if we are to have any chance of maintaining power. At that point, why even usurp them?”

  She thought she was being rational, but Benjamin seemed to turn redder and redder with every word she spoke, and when she finished, he was aghast.

  “Forlana, have you gone mad? There’s no going back from this! You and our faction’s very existence is a threat to them!”

  “But then why do you all want me to be Queen?” Forlana retorted.

  “We are your loyal servants—”

  “Erisdale is a prosperous and powerful country rallied behind two popular monarchs. The people are happy, the economy is booming! If restoring me to the throne is truly for Erisdale’s benefit, then the logical solution would not have been to marry a foreign ruler and threaten it with invasion, but to claim a title and work within their parliament.”

  Forlana crossed her arms, forcing herself to look her two servants in the eye as she watched the emotions flit across their faces.

  “I chose this arrangement, but since then, I’ve thought about this, read as much as I can about Erisdale. I cannot understand why this was even a plan we were considering and as I thought further, our faction, our plans have made less and less sense.”

  Benjamin, still red, pulled over the spare chair and sat down, burying his face into his elbows before he looked back up.

  “So you’re giving up?” he asked.

  “I’m not giving up—”

  “Because it sounds like you’re giving up.”

  “Answer the question, Benjamin!” Forlana roared.

  “Why is that any of your business?” bellowed Benjamin.

  Forlana rose to her feet, the weight of her anxieties pushing down on her shoulders as she did so. “Because I am your queen and I want to know why we are doing this before I press my birthright and start a war that might kill thousands of people!”

  “Thousands of people are already dead, Forlana!”

  Forlana and Benjamin’s eyes widened at Annie, whose eyes were filled with tears. The princess-consort’s thoughts went haywire-blank as she struggled to process her servant’s words.

  “What the hell do you mean?” she whispered.

  Benjamin took a breath and gently patted Annie’s shoulder. “Earl Darius, Grandmaster Scarlet, all died so that the rightful rule of House Grey, Queen Janize, could sit the throne, but she betrayed us all. She betrayed us to side with that wretched Prince Jerome and his crippled wife Forowena.”

  “Hundreds of our comrades, including my father, died fighting Jerome and Forowena, and Janize just spat in our face and betrayed us,” hissed Annie.

  “Sure, we’re not just supporting your claim because of your blood. We’re supporting your claim because we want them punished. We want the rebels Martin and Ginger cast down. We want Janize punished. All things that you would have to do anyway once you become queen,” said Benjamin.

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  Forlana shook her head as she started to pace within the privacy spell’s boundary. She couldn’t believe this. She felt sick to her stomach, but she couldn’t stay silent.

  “Do anyway—Benjamin, the only way Rowena and her family would ever agree to step down is if we guaranteed they’d not be harmed and allowed them to keep land and titles!”

  “Them stepping down is looking increasingly unlikely, and besides, so long as they aren’t monarchs, there would be ways to get at them,” said Benjamin, almost nonchalantly.

  Forlana swallowed, and in a quiet tone, she gave voice to the question she’d been dreading. “You’d all risk war across the continent for a chance to cast down the victors of that civil war?”

  Annie’s eyes were hard as rock and cold as ice. “We’d been at war with them for years, Forlana. How is this any different?”

  The princess swallowed, unable to see anything but the blood that seemed to soak the ground she was about to tread.

  “It… the scale—”

  Benjamin rolled his eyes and pointed right at her. “Why are you questioning this now, Forlana? You have the right and are the right woman to be Queen after Janize abandoned the throne! You know if you back down now, then all those years hiding, the sacrifices of our comrades, sleepless nights in dinghy rooms, the battles we fought, the very reason we’d been surviving for, everything we have done would all be in vain!”

  Forlana blinked, looked over her shoulder to meet Benjamin’s gaze.

  Because he and Annie were right. The more she stared at him and Annie’s hardened eyes, the more she remembered the years of hiding, of lying, of moving from place to place.

  She was the rightful queen of Erisdale. If she wasn’t, then what was it all for? What was the point of any of this?

  What would be the point if she had to burn everything to the ground for her purpose in life?

  Forlana swallowed that thought down and shook her head. “Sorry, you’re right. We… we’ve gone too far. We can’t retreat now.”

  Annie and Benjamin relaxed with visible relief, and Forlana found herself smiling. She smiled, even as her heart clenched. Even if the war did not stop, she had to keep fighting. After all, she couldn’t imagine what would happen if she stopped.

  ***

  This time the Rowena and her companions met Alastor and Forlana inside one of the windowless, private meeting rooms that seemed to be in abundance in the Sunflower Court. After Georgia and Lycia had checked the room for traps, the royals had gathered, seated across from each other at a table. The Erisdalian guards keeping a close eye in particular on Benjamin who smiled cooly at them.

  Alastor lounged onto his chair, carefully studying his nails without even meeting Rowena’s eyes. “Alright, let’s get to the point because you’re starting to really annoy me, Princess Rowena.”

  Rowena leant on the table, her jaw set. “Fine. Fairy’s Peak, bequeathed to Forlana and all her heirs.” She turned her gaze onto Forlana, making her movement to focus just on her. “Amnesty for your followers within that territory.”

  Forlana nodded slowly, her mind racing as she considered. Alastor arched an eyebrow and sat up straight. “What’s Fairy’s Peak?”

  “It’s a county on the Lapanterian-Erisdalian border along the river that divides our countries,” said Forlana.

  Alastor frowned. No longer sitting casually, he now braced himself with his right arm. “A county. We demand a kingdom, and you offer us a county?”

  Rowena smiled thinly. “We offer you Erisdalian territory, rich in resources—”

  “Reject—”

  Forlana coughed into the back of her hand, and that delicate motion was enough to cut the prince off. He turned to her, glaring, mouth opening to hiss, but the princess smiled at him disarmingly.

  “My dear husband, do you mind if I hear them out first, if their offer is that pathetic?” she asked.

  Alastor took a breath and sighed dramatically. “Fine.”

  Forlana inclined her hear to her husband before meeting Rowena’s glance. “Why Fairy’s Peak?”

  Rowena had rehearsed her response. Actually trying to force the words out was a little more difficult, but the princess took comfort in the glance that Jess sent her way.

  “Fairy’s Peak has untapped gold panning flats, coal reserves, and valuable iron and minerals. The area also hosts numerous natural springs and thick forests. Highly defensible, it is a rich, undeveloped land, with few subjects to control that is ripe for further investment.”

  Forlana nodded. “And your constitution allows you to cede this land?” she asked, in a measured tone.

  “Yes. After all, I own it as part of my personal fief,” said Rowena.

  “How does that work? I thought your nobility and members of parliament represent all of Erisdale’s people, no matter where they are?” Forlana asked, one hand’s fingers drumming slowly on the table.

  The question took Rowena aback, and now that she seriously considered it, Forlana’s demeanor was different than before. She was not glaring or scowling at Rowena, but rather intently listening to her every word.

  “There are stretches of Erisdalian territory that aren’t owned by a noble and have too few people to justify a council. These are directly administered by the crown. Those living on these lands have a lease on the crown land with many conditions, at reduced rates of course. That allows me to take more direct control, so long as I compensate my tenants,” said Rowena.

  Forlana hummed. “So you would be able to cede those subjects on your land to my authority. I see.”

  Rowena nodded at Forlana’s observation, her eyes glancing towards Alastor.

  The regent of Lapanteria didn’t growl. He wasn’t an animal after all. But his dark brown eyes seemed to take on a tar-like sheen as he glowered at her. Those same eyes, however, also glanced to Forlana.

  The princess either didn’t notice or ignored her husband as she smiled at Rowena.

  “I think we need some time to consider your offer, Your Highness.”

  Rowena nodded slowly. “Thank you, Princess.”

  ***

  “What the fuck was that?”

  Forlana steadied herself against her chair. Her husband was on his feet, not looming over her as she might have feared, but pacing furiously alongside the table, his fingers drumming on the fine wood.

  “Alastor—”

  He cut her off with a pointed finger, levelled like a lance. “You are my princess. You owe me. You are my claim to Erisdale and if you think about just taking that tiny piece of land then think again!”

  Lifting her chin, Forlana didn’t flinch and fought to keep her tone level. “I am not just your claim to Erisdale.”

  One by one, Alastor placed both palms on the table and leaned forward. His visage shrouded by the shadow cast by the chandelier, he said in a deathly quiet voice. “Then I’ll rip that dress off of you and throw you out myself.”

  Forlana gritted her teeth. If she had been a typical child, she’d have panicked, but she had long eschewed all hopes of a normal life. Some arse-hat trying to glare her down was not going to faze her.

  “And what of the scandal that would incur? Prince throws his wife outside of the palace scant a year after they were married? What would your father and mother think of that?” Forlana asked.

  The prince scowled, but before he could say anything, she reached forward to gently take his hand. With great care, she brought it to her lips and kissed it.

  It would not do after all to throw Alastor away. He had been of great help to her after all. He just needed to see reason.

  “Alastor, I ask you to think for a moment. Fairy’s Peak is one of the richest fiefs Erisdale has, and you want to forego it? We have done nothing, and yet we gained something valuable,” she said.

  Alastor swallowed. His lips pressed thin, he pulled his hand from her grasp, though he did not do so roughly.

  “You have to give up your claim,” he said.

  “So? We can still renege and press it later! We’d be idiots not to take this deal and go to war against a prepared enemy,” said Forlana.

  Alastor snorted and sat down heavily in his chair. “And I will have a civil war on my hands if I do not go to war.”

  Forlana almost second-guessed her hearing, but the reactions on Annie and Benjamin confirmed what she’d heard.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  Alastor smiled, no joy in his expression, just cold belief. “The nobles are clamouring for war. We need this. Lapanteria’s people need this. Our country needs Erisdale’s resources. All of them. Not just one fief.”

  “But we’ve already taken territory in Roranoak!” Forlana exclaimed.

  “Depopulated wilderness that’s barely developed. Meanwhile, seizing even just a few of Erisdale’s cities will provide us with the factories enough to double our iron production. Enough conscripts to raise divisions for the army,” said Alastor.

  Forlana opened and closed her mouth. Her mind was a blur as she tried to think back. Did she miss something Alastor had said? Had he hinted at his intentions or his priorities? Or had she suspected all along and just gone along with it?

  “So our initial offer to Rowena was to facilitate this, just without a war. But your backup plan was always to go to war if they rejected it?” Forlana asked.

  “What recourse would we have had, your highness?” Alastor asked in a mocking drawl.

  “Something cleaner than a war! We could have orchestrated an assassination attempt. Maybe ferment rebellion within Erisdale and force them to declare war on us so we’d have legitimacy to overthrow Martin and Ginger!” Forlana shook her head. “War shouldn’t have been our immediate backup plan.”

  “Well, neither of us thought those Erisdalian pricks would double down, least of all that pest Princess Rowena,” said Alastor.

  Forlana sighed. “You’re not wrong. Still, Alastor, if we are not accepting Rowena’s offer, then what are we doing?”

  The prince glanced at the door, seeming to study the wooden grain. “You are going to wait. I’m going to turn their stalling against them.”

  “Alastor—”

  “We might still be able to unbalance them and buy time for our own mobilization. Get your agents across Erisdale ready for anything, please, and try to get us some useful information on troop movements.” Before Forlana could ask, the prince had strode out of the room, his guards following him.

  Sitting back down, Forlana looked over her shoulder at the very still Benjamin and Annie. She made a shushing gesture, and the mage quickly put up a privacy bubble.

  “Do you still want to keep going?” Forlana asked, once they were shrouded under the shimmering green magic.

  Benjamin, hands twisting behind his back, nodded. “We don’t have a choice. We didn’t expect Alastor to be so dismissive of you so soon after your marriage, but we can’t help that. Once we seize Erisdale, we should be able to rally resistance against him and to resist Lapanterian influence.”

  “Hah.”

  Benjamin and Annie blinked as Forlana, one hand pressed against her face, giggled quietly to herself.

  She wasn’t sure how long she just giggled to herself, but when she finally met her companions' gazes, they were wide-eyed.

  “So once we win that war, we’re to start another conspiracy against the man I have to sleep with? Who I have to give a child to?” Forlana asked.

  Benjamin grimaced. He opened his mouth to speak, but Annie beat him. “Ben, I know we have few options, but I see where Her Highness is coming from. Alastor has never been entirely honest with us. Even if he was, he’s Lapanterian and he his own priorities. We may find ourselves in a war, but he’s far too eager to leap into one that’s throwing away Erisdalian lives.”

  The mage sighed. “Annie, Your Highness, that is what it means to be a royal. Continuous scheming and counter-scheming.”

  Forlana looked up from the table. “Benjamin, I’ll be Queen of a broken kingdom, or two if we count Lapanteria.”

  She wanted her mage-mentor to agree with her. To smile sadly and tell her that she was right. She wanted—needed some words of comfort.

  The portly man only pursed his lips and said in a cool voice. “You’ll be Queen, as is your birthright and which is what our comrades have promised you.”

  Her gaze falling back to the table, Forlana interlaced her fingers.

  “And how many of them will survive this war, and the next one we’d have to fight against Alastor?” Before her companions could speak up, she waved her hand. “Don’t bother answering that. The arrow has been released. Please brief our agents.”

  Benjamin bowed before dispelling the shield and exiting. Forlana reached out to Annie, who helped her up and the pair exited the room.