'What?'
Alaric scoffed, 'The audacity'
Salviana took her seat, the sage-green silk of her skirt rustling as she smoothed it over her knees. She felt Alaric take his place beside her, his presence a dark, protective shield.
"Not at all, Your Majesty," Salviana replied, her voice steady and clear. "The journey had a way of revealing what is truly important."
She caught the look on Abigail's face—a mixture of awe and jealousy—and the calculating glints in the eyes of the concubines, Audrey and Lucille, who sat further down the table.
The web of the Velthorne family was sprawling and dangerous, but as Alaric's hand found hers beneath the table, Salviana remembered she wasn't just a guest anymore. She was a player and she came here by herself.
