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Too many sacrifices had been made for that to be an option, but a queen who didn’t want to be a queen could dream, couldn’t she?

She made her way to her rooms, then stood by the window and wondered what to do.

There was plenty of correspondence from Kassia’s neighbours, all stiff and panicked, seeking information from her about how things would proceed.

She couldn’t really tell them until she knew herself, and she could not bear the thought of tackling them now.

Not while her heart and her head were with Luc, racing toward the north.

She saw someone had left her a tray with soup and bread, some cheese and fruit, and she sat and forced a few spoonfuls down, but she had no appetite.

Luc would try to reach Bartolo tonight sometime before midnight, where they could rest the horses and gather more supplies.

She couldn’t sit and write, or even read, as if her body was with them, riding in the night.

She paced restlessly, and then stood by the window again, listening to the sounds of the city below and beyond the walls.

A light tap on her door was a relief.

“Captain Eckhart is below to speak with you.” Talika, one of the guards often on watch outside her rooms, gestured to the stairs.

“I’ll come down.” She was glad of the distraction.

Eckart was waiting for her in a small room off the main entrance. It had a fire place and comfortable chairs, as well as a small dining table. She, Luc, the general and whichever of their lieutenants weren’t on duty met here often in the two weeks since they’d taken the city.

“Eckhart.” She clasped a fist to her chest in greeting. “I haven’t seen much of you since we took Fernwell.”

Eckart gave a lopsided smile. “I’ve been tasked with decommissioning the Kassian guards and soldiers. I’ve been arranging new work for them, so we don’t have hundreds of unemployed trained killers wandering around.”

Ava had been involved in the process, but only in as much as she’d made funds available for reconstruction projects and rebuilding. Her aunt, it seemed, hadn’t been inclined to spend money on keeping her city maintained.

It made for a useful outlet for the Kassian soldiers and guards either in the city or those limping back from the battlefields. Right now, no one in the Rising Wave was prepared to trust or accept Kassian soldiers into their ranks.

But everyone had been in agreement they couldn’t simply cut them loose, either.

Eckart would have been busy.

“Rafe asked you to coordinate the watch on the Grimwaldians?”

Eckart nodded. He was broad shouldered, his face always serious, but his light brown hair was curly and it framed his face and gave him a sweet, friendly look.

“Frederick and Talura have been watching the envoy since this afternoon, and Rafe added more watchers to the group since the incident in the throne room.” He paused. “Can you tell me exactly what that incident was?”

His voice changed a little when he asked, coming out stiff, as if he were insulted he hadn’t been given all the information.

But he would know there were some things it was better to keep quiet about, and she had never known him to be territorial.

The workings in her dress spiked, warning her.

“A magic spoon was used to kill one of the diplomats.”

“Are the diplomats still in the palace?”

She shook her head. “Raun-Tu has them somewhere safe. We are more interested in the people who accompanied them. The wagon driver, any other assistants or helpers.”

She kept talking, but she was wary. She didn’t understand everything her workings were telling her.

Eckhart didn’t mean her harm, but he was dangerous to her. There was a dissonance that sat uncomfortably on her skin.