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Valen would never interrupt a council meeting unless it was dire.

Great. Just great. He would not be seeking a bed anytime soon.

The king stood from his seat, his councilors following suit. “I am needed elsewhere. We will convene again tomorrow morning.”

With that, he strode through the room with his head held high.

Valen fell in line as they exited the stuffy council room and walked down the hallway. His friend kept pace, eyeing the guards that were trailing them. Raz nodded to them, and they fell even farther back. It must be truly horrible if Valen was worried about his guards overhearing the news.

“What is it?” he barked, feeling like he was about to come out of his skin.

Valen’s lips thinned, looking grim. “Er... your wife seems to have decided to explore the palace.”

Raz stopped, glaring at his friend. “You pulled me from a stressful meeting to report that my bloody wife went on a walk?”

“Not exactly. As you remember, you ordered her to be contained to your rooms after her little stunt in Laos.”

He rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t because of a little stunt but because of her murderous intentions.”

Valen snorted. “Would it have been so bad if the duke died from anaccident?”

“Convenient, yes, but also bad. Our people are divided about Mer. Half think she’s our savior, the other half our enemy. Evenifit hadn’t been her fault, she would have been blamed. She’s part of the monarchy. What she does reflects on me. We need the support of our gentry. Too much is at stake. Methi is one stone away from crumbling.”

“And yet you are obsessing over your wife.”

Raz ground his teeth. “That is not true.”

“And yet here you are with me when you could have gone right back into that council meeting.”

He sped up, feeling like his skin was too small for his body. To his ever-loving shame, Raz had grown to like her outlandish dresses and the feel of her skin against his own. What he did not like was the mind games and how bloodthirsty she was. Plus, the fact that she never did anything he asked of her.

Liar.

Feeling frustrated, Raz shook out his hands, his mind looping back to the fact that his wife was roaming the palace. He glanced at Valen. “How the devil did she manage to escape? I had guards stationed outside the doors, down the hallway, and even in the stairwell. How did she get past you?”

Valen winced. “She sent away her lady’s maids to rest. That wasn’t out of the ordinary since her return, but when dinner was sent up, her maid couldn’t find her. It seems she created a rope and used it to scale down to the balcony beneath yours.” A look of awe crossed Valen’s face. “It was brilliant, really.”

Ravielle.

Raz swiped a hand down his face. “Did she hurt my grandmother?”

“No. Lady Ravi is just fine.” Valen smirked, his eyes glittering. “In fact, it seems she wants your wife to come back and visit again. She liked the Sirenidae.”

This day could not get any worse.

“Well, where did she go? The armory? Pick the lock to my office? The courtyards to shock more of my courtiers?” Raz could just see her waltzing into the courtyards soaking wet and blowing kisses to all the old men and women, giving them heart palpitations.

You’d like it just as much.

“The nests.”

Raz almost stumbled. “How did she know where to go?”

“It seems our new queen has many questions about her new kingdom. Her lady’s maids have shared all they know to accommodate their queen.”

By blood and stone. He’d taken her Sirenidae handmaidens so that they couldn’t conspire, and yet he’d given his enemy queen three informants with all the gossip and knowledge of the palace.

Raziel kept underestimating her. She was a commander. He needed to start treating her like one.