The Hall was finally arranged when Aurie went in. Apparently, it had been finished while she slept with the long tables being turned into smaller ones that were now diamonds covered by quilted cloths, each with their own tall unlit candles and short benches. Only the few placed near the unchanged table on the platform, where Valmond and Pierre were sitting with quills in hand, had candelabras and chairs. Alice was directing Esme and Leo on placing a long leafy vine they were draping from decorative hanging wreaths along the wall.

  Aurie wondered who she should go to first. The wreaths were something she had never seen except on the church doors in Alcer when she was a child. A part of her wished she warmed to the sight. Instead, she found herself wishing she could look away.

  “Ah, you’re here,” Valmond waved to her as he stood.

  “I feel like a rabbit being chased from hole to hole in this place,” Aurie grinned as she went to her chair on the other side of him. She noticed the emptiness of the table. “Where are the others?”

  “The King hasn’t returned since early morning, Paladin Commander is with Father Hagen overseeing the embattlements being built around the Abbey, and Nina is…being Nina,” Valmond said, then leaned to look at Pierre’s work on his parchment. He shook his head at it, “You want to word it a bit more amicably on that. They needn’t know of the precariousness of the situation, only that the venue has been changed due to the arrival of an esteemed visitor.”

  An esteemed visitor Aurie already felt the need to avoid and she wasn’t even here yet. If only she had been more stubborn—or even resistant at all—to moving into the castle. Queen Isabella had only one reason to come here and the more Aurie thought about it, the more Aurie found herself disliking the Queen. And Draka. She wanted to scream.

  “Should I state that it is Queen Isabella?” Pierre asked, making Valmond straighten to tap the feather of his quill to his chin.

  “Yes, that will sooth the inconvenience. They will understand that leaving the Queen while being her host would be rude and that forcing her to relocate during that time when it is a slight inconvenience for those involved would be carried on their shoulders,” Valmond answered, finally sitting down.

  “The Queen always gets her way,” Aurie huffed.

  Valmond had a twinkle in his eyes, “She is the most powerful monarch in Christendom. Unlike our King, her power and prestige has no reliance on the Church and Paladinate while still being influential and deeply supported by both.”

  “Which means she moves mountains,” Aurie was glaring. She didn’t mean to glare, not at Valmond. She liked Valmond. She was beginning to hate Queen Isabella.

  “Revealing that she is a close ally will do wonders for Alcalia in all matters,” Valmond frowned at her. “Try to be friendly.”

  “I will,” Aurie turned her glare into a grin. He didn’t look convinced. She put a finger to her nose and mouthed, ‘Promise.’

  Valmond only narrowed his eyes. Then, he shifted a parchment to in front of her. She didn’t bother looking at it. Her reading lessons would begin in a few days, so why would she bother trying to read it.

  “This is the only thing I need you to approve for the day,” Valmond shifted his chair to lean over it. “After this, you can go about your day. Hopefully, enjoy the festival.”

  “And the feast after the Ribbon Dances! I have all the Landed of Alcer and Strasbourg invited!” Alice called, holding her portion of the vine over her head while Leo stood on a chair to wrap it around a nail.

  “All of them?” Aurie felt her jaw tighten. Balian? Please tell me she didn’t invite Balian as well?

  “Of course,” Valmond nonchalantly answered for her, peering down his nose through those round-rimmed glasses that barely clung to his face. He tapped the parchment to draw Aurie’s attention to it. “This is the King’s present Last Will and Testimony, should anything—God be good that it doesn’t—happen to him and you take your place as Regent again.”

  Aurie held up a finger at him, calling down to Alice, “Exactly who was invited, Alice?”

  “Oh, the important ones. Locals, mostly. I didn’t want there to be courtly intrigue so soon. Just—oh, what were their names—” Alice snapped fingers, “Vorners and Greshons, Villiers, your namesakes, of course, and a few others. Why?”

  Aurie felt an eye twitch.

  “Regent,” Valmond deepened his voice.

  “Balian Clevlan?”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Alice was unraveling another vine while Esme walked the length of the Hall. “Yes, him. His wife is quite brash, if you ask me, but she’ll manage, I suppose. Their girls are the ones I’m worried about. Unruly lot, though the oldest will be with her new husband-to-be during the feast.” Once the vine was at its full length, she called up, “Oh! I was able to procure three cows and six pigs for the cooks. Marvelous that I was able to do so on such short notice, don’t you think. Miracles never cease in Talkro.”

  “Uninvite him,” Aurie growled.

  Valmond leaned back in his chair. He removed his glasses and set them on the table.

  Alice turned to her and lifted her chin. “I will not.”

  Aurie glared with fire in her eyes. “Uninvite him, Alice. I will not ask again.”

  “Good,” Alice said with a meager shrug. “It would be unbecoming for you to request something as if you were a person below your station.”

  “You have to host the landed of the realm,” Valmond regarded her with a tone far deeper than she had ever heard from him. “Even if they are your enemies. So long as they are not in open rebellion, they are considered loyal subjects and will be treated as such. Your personal…”

  “He tried to kill us,” Aurie narrowed her glare at him. “I can handle having him help during crises, working in the village, what have you, but I will not host him in my home! He was going to crucify my husband!”

  Valmond held up a hand, apparently stopping his wife from saying something, before saying to Aurie with that same depth in his tone, “You are a Regent of a Kingdom. Your seat beside the King lasts until he has a Queen in it. Until then, you are keeping it warm for her. Bare that in mind as you decide to fill this kingdom with enemies who decide the wages of laborers that can just as easily exchange their pitchforks for torches and spears at the whims of the one who pays them what feeds their families’ bellies.”

  Aurie felt herself slinking away from his hard gaze.

  “You will host Balian Clevlan and his wife, you will be amicable when necessary, and you will show them that the Kingdom, though it has a lasting memory, still requires their loyalty and will protect them so long as they give it from this day forth,” Valmond replaced his glasses and turned back to the parchment. “And this, Lady Clevlan, is not your home. It is the King’s and you are a resident here at his behest, as we all are. So, you are not the one hosting him. King Dietrich is. Your conscience is clear. Now, shall we continue with what is yours to attend to or shall we venture further into the details of your placement and station?”

  Aurie took in a long breath to steady herself. She was boiling over, not with rage, but frustration on the verge of tears. Her legs were stuck in her seat. She wanted them to carry her to the door. She wanted to be hidden away. That hurt more than she ever expected.

  Valmond must have recognized it. He said with a sigh, “I didn’t mean to be so harsh, but it needed to be said, especially with what’s coming. There are actual enemies coming to be hosted here in a week for Michaelmas, ones that truly would want your head on a platter and your daughter’s beside it. In comparison, your anger toward Balian is childish. You must be stronger than that. Smarter. It’s time for you to act like a contender to a throne instead of one who is already seated.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes,” it was barely a whisper. He drew her attention to the parchment. “If the King dies, you are to levee forces among the Paladinate and populace while Maud is Queen Regent until she has consolidated her position and is coronated Queen officially. During that time, you will be fighting for her claim within and without. The King knows this. There are certain elements to the will, but you will have your own lands as a Countess soon, officially, and will need to have a standing army and your own court established. Alice can establish the minor court and the Paladinate will provide the Army, depending on where he gives you lands.”

  “Countess?” Aurie blinked. “Why Countess?”

  “I will let the King be the one to explain, but it is all so you can defend Maud’s claim. If, once his divorce is finalized and…he marries another,” Aurie knew Valmond was watching her. She tried not to show how cold her blood felt, how that made her skin crawl, or the way her heart ached at the thought. “If his new wife provides a male heir, then he wishes for Maud to take your seat as Regent until they are of age or until she, herself, provides a male heir. His preference, however, is that the Luminis dynasty continue. Which is another matter altogether when it comes to the adoption, but that is for her to decide entirely.”

  “Why did I need to know this now?” Aurie knew that there were tears in her long lashes when she looked up to him. “This couldn’t wait?”

  Valmond half turned his head. Pierre nodded and stood from the table with a gathering of his books. Valmond waited until he was off the platform before leaning close to Aurie as he whispered, “Aurie, dear, I’ve only seen one Paladinate siege in all my years and it was horrifying to watch. And those were just men. They’re preparing to besiege the Abbey as if it is garrisoned by thousands of demons or more. If the King dies, you’re alone. You need Queen Isabella as an ally. A friend. You need her to want your companionship, to endorse your daughter’s claim. And for all that is holy, you need to snatch the King up the moment he is free of his tethers and marry the man so you can tell my wife she doesn’t run every household she walks into.”

  Aurie smiled a little. “I’ll try. I didn’t think about that. I haven’t been thinking about that. But I’m a Paladin, too. They might have me at the siege as well, you know.”

  Valmond nodded, “I know. We’re preparing for that as well. Thankfully, she’s already been favoring Maud with her gifts. It’s you we’re worried about. You’re the one everyone can unseat. Maud, they’ll attempt to manipulate until she holds no power. You, they’ll kill.”

  “And I always thought life was easier for the wealthy,” Aurie chuckled. “This is a nightmare.”