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The Parliament members were all on the ground, arms over their heads as if they expected Farrendel’s magic to fry them at any moment. On the other end, the generals were downright gaping.

In the center, Averett and Julien were grinning. They were also the only two standing straight and tall, as if they had full confidence in Farrendel’s magic or in Essie’s wielding of it to protect them.

Holding Essie’s hand, Farrendel strode toward the line of observers. Instead of feeling tired from working so much magic, he felt awake and alive. Whole in a way he had not been in a long time.

AS FARRENDEL, stillgripping Essie’s hand, reached the others, Averett and Julien nodded to him but were too busy shaking hands and speaking with the generals to say anything to them.

Farrendel hung back, nodding and smiling as the generals approached him, bowing and murmuring versions of, “Thank you for such an awesome display.”

In the background, one of the Parliament members was bowing to Essie. More like groveling, as he said, “Thank you—thank you—Princess Elspeth for marrying that elf.”

Thankfully, Averett and Julien hurried things along, and soon had all of them disengaged from the generals and Parliament members, who had a separate train that they would be taking back to Aldon once the royal train had departed and been given enough of a head start.

As soon as they were in the privacy of the royal car, the door shut behind them, Julien body-slam-hugged Farrendel, knocking the breath from him, before pounding him on the back hard enough that Farrendel was glad he was wearing his padded fighting leathers.

“That was awesome!” Julien gave him one last pound on the back before stepping away far enough to grip Farrendel’s shoulders, giving him a shake in his exuberance. “That was even better than I was expecting, and we all saw how powerful you were in Kostaria.”

Farrendel managed to extricate himself from Julien and took a seat next to Essie on the settee set along one wall of the train car. From now on, he was going to wear his leather armor whenever he was around Essie’s overly exuberant brothers.

Averett dropped into one of the padded chairs, sprawling. “Ilovebeing right. It felt so good—so good—to go up to all those members of Parliament and say,I told you so.Parliament has been so sure this whole time that making a treaty with Mongalia was the better option. The generals wanted to team up with Mongalia and finish the war with Tarenhiel that Father started. ButIpushed for a diplomatic meeting with Weylind.Irefused to consider war until after we explored all our options.Ihad read the reports and rumors about Farrendel’s power.”

Averett gestured toward Farrendel, and Farrendel straightened, reaching out to clasp Essie’s hand. She leaned against him, the leather of their padded armor squeaking, her smile warm as she tilted her head up to look at him.

“I knew Mongalia only wanted to get their claws into Escarland and any treaty would be an imbalanced one. I knew we would be better off keeping Mongalia out of our affairs and gaining peace with Tarenhiel another way. I wasright. And it feels so good.” Averett pumped his fist, rocking forward and back in the chair under the force of his celebration.

Around them, the train shuddered as it chugged into motion.

Essie gripped Farrendel’s hand with both of hers. “You can’t take all the credit. After all, I’m the one who argued for the marriage alliance once it was a real possibility. And I have been right in pushing for closer relations with Tarenhiel.”

“She’s got you there.” Julien had taken a seat in the other padded chair, sprawling much like Averett so that their legs filled the space around the coffee table in the center.

“Aw, come on, Essie, Julien. Let me bask in my triumph for a few minutes.” Averett settled deeper in the chair, only flapping his hand in Essie’s direction lazily. “Being king mostly stinks. It is just a long list of problems that everyone expects you to fix even if you can’t. When things go wrong, you get blamed, even if it wasn’t your fault. But you never get the credit when things actually go right for a change.”

All reasons Farrendel was thankful he was the youngest. He had never been in any danger of inheriting the throne, not that he was sure the elven nobility would even allow it should such a tragedy come about. Much better to be the youngest prince, able to quietly live his own life rather than the one the crown forced upon those who wore it.

Averett folded his hands over his stomach. “So I’m going to enjoy it. I’m on a roll, with peace with Tarenhiel, a victory in the war with Kostaria, and the booming trade, especially for Escarland’s farmers, that has come about because of it. Any time Parliament gets testy, I’m going to rub their noses in this for the next ten years.”