I sensed him slipping from beneath my arm in the midde of the night, but I thought he had just rolled over. When I woke early the next morning, he was gone. All I found was a servant with wary eyes and a tray of tarts, dried fruit, and cream. She set it on the table and curtsied.
“I’m Tilde. His Majesty told me to tell you he had meetings and would check on you later. In the meantime, I am to help with anything you require.”
I looked down at the rumpled gown I had slept in. “Madam Rathbone is sending more clothes over soon,” Tilde said. “She also wanted to know if you wanted your other belongings cleaned or … burned.”
I knew they assumed everything should be burned. The clothing was beyond repair, but my boots, and especially Walther’s baldrick, were not things I could let go, and then when I thought of it, the remains of the dress of many hands was not something I could let go of either. I told her I would clean the items myself if she would bring them to me.
“I’ll take care if it right away, ma’am.” She curtsied and scurried out of the tent.
I brushed my hair, pulled on the dainty slippers Vilah had lent me, and left to find Colonel Bodeen’s office.
The thick walls of the outpost were bright in the morning sun. Everything about the garrison was pristine—and intimidating in its order. It exuded the confidence of a kingdom that was strong all the way down to its foundation. Even the ground between the buildings was covered with neatly raked gravel the color of marmalade. It crunched lightly beneath my feet as I approached a long building that looked similar to the dining hall, but that had only small high windows. Perhaps they wanted no one to see who met within.
The officers looked up in surprise when I opened the door, but neither Rafe, Sven, nor Colonel Bodeen was present.
“Your Highness,” Lieutenant Belmonte said as he rose to his feet. “Is there something we can do for you?”
“I was told we would meet today. I came to continue our discussion of last night. About the Vendan army. You need to be aware—”
Captain Hague dropped a thick stack of papers onto the table with a loud thud. “The king has already informed us of developments in Venda,” he said, and then added pointedly while surveying my rumpled dress, “while you were still sleeping.”
I smoothed out my dress. “I respect what the king may have already told you, but he didn’t see what I saw when—”
“Are you a trained soldier, Your Highness?”
He cut me off so sharply he may as well have slapped me. The sting hissed through the air. So this was how it was to be? I leaned forward, my palms flat on the table, and met his stare. “Yes, I am, Captain, though perhaps trained with a different eye than yours.”
“Oh, of course,” he said, sitting back in his chair, his tone ripe with disdain. “That’s right. The Morrighese army does do things a little differently. It must have something to do with that gift of yours.” He shot a grin at an officer next to him. “Go ahead, then. Why don’t you tell us just what you think you saw?”
The ass. Apparently Rafe’s claim of me as his future queen carried little weight with the captain—as long as the king wasn’t present—but I couldn’t let my pride nor contempt keep me from sharing what they needed to know. So I told them everything I knew about the army city.
“A hundred thousand armed soldiers is a staggering claim,” he said when I finished. “Especially for a people as backward as the barbarians.”
“They are not so backward,” I countered. “And the men I rode in with, Kaden and Griz, can confirm what I’ve told you.”
Captain Hague rose from his chair, his face splotched with sudden color. “May I remind you, Your Highness, we have just lost twenty-eight men to the barbarians. The only way we’ll be gathering information from savages like them will be at the end of a knotted whip.”
I leaned forward. “And it is clear you would prefer to gain it from me in the same way.”
Captain Azia laid a hand on Hague’s arm and whispered something to him. Hague sat down.
“Please understand, Your Highness,” Azia said, “the loss of the platoon has been a bitter blow to all of us, especially to Captain Hague. One of his cousins was a soldier in the unit.”
My hands slid from the table, and I stood straight, taking a calming breath. I understood grief. “My condolences, Captain. I’m sorry for your loss. But please make no mistake. I owe a debt to the men you slander, and if they are not invited to our table, do not expect to see me there either.”
His wiry brows fell low over his eyes. “I will convey your wishes to Colonel Bodeen.”
I was just turning to leave when a door at the back of the room opened and Colonel Bodeen, along with Sven, Rafe, and Tavish emerged. They startled when they saw me, and Rafe’s eyes turned briefly sharp as if I had undermined him.
“I was just leaving,” I said. “It seems you’ve already taken care of matters here.”
I was out the door and halfway down the stairs before Rafe stepped out on the veranda and stopped me. “Lia, what’s wrong?”
“I thought we were going to meet with the officers together.”
He shook his head, his expression apologetic. “You were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you. But I told them everything you told me.”
“About the silos?”