Page 42 of A War of Crowns

She pretended as if she did not notice.

“Might we all agree we are now finished with this whole business of feigning niceties, or shall we waste yet more time by continuing for a bit longer?” she asked, unable to keep the thought to herself any longer.

At her left, Duke Percival choked on his wine.

At her right, Lord Ezzo smiled at her with all the cheer of a cat that had just swallowed a bird whole.

She dared not look across the table at Duchess Edith to see just what her godmother thought of her plain speech.

The Drakmori ambassador declared, “I can’t help but admire a woman who possesses all the subtlety of an Arathian warelephant.” He claimed an apricot pastry for himself. “Very well, Your Majesty. Let us speak plainly with one another.”

The man’s teeth crunched into the treat, and flakes of pastry dusted the front of his doublet. He didn’t even bother swallowing before he spoke around the mouthful of apricot to further invite, “Why don’t you start?”

“Your king has not returned any of our letters, my lord,” Seraphina observed without further preamble, her eyes unwavering upon Ambassador Ezzo’s own.

This time, the Drakmori took the time to swallow before he spoke.

“The king is a very busy man, as I am sure you know all too well, Your Majesty,” Lord Ezzo cooed. As if she were a child. As if she were a simpleton. “But no ill will was intended, I assure you—”

“My people are dying every day in Mysai,” Seraphina bit out, tossing aside all pretense, all double-speak, and all manners as her patience frayed at last. Within her mind burned the image of Goldreach burning. Was that to be next if she could not secure aid for Mysai?

Thoroughly ignoring the sound of Duke Percival rumbling from her side with his unspoken thoughts, Seraphina blazed onward with a scathing reminder of, “For generations, since the days of the Great Conquest, Elmoria and Drakmor have enjoyed a long-lasting and powerful friendship. Many times has Elmoria answered Drakmor’s call. And now when we cry out for help, suddenly Drakmor is silent.”

Lord Ezzo broke the connection between her gaze and his. His eyes lowered to the apricot pastry still in his hand, only partially eaten. In the silence that followed, she could plainly feel the eyes of both Duchess Edith and Duke Percival boring into her as her godparents strove to gain her attention.

She avoided looking at them, though.

She knew exactly what they wanted to convey.

They wanted to advise caution. They wanted her to play demure. To ask nicely. But the time for asking nicely was long past.

Still, Ambassador Ezzo avoided her gaze. Those tense moments of silence ticked on while Seraphina waited for him to finally look her in the face and tell her she was wrong.

Tightening her jaw, Seraphina snapped, “And you mean to sit there and tell me your king means us no ill will?”

That drew the Drakmori’s gaze back her way.

“Need I remind Your Majesty that Drakmor shares a border with Arath?” Ambassador Ezzo asked, his tone suddenly laced with ice. “That we are pressed by enemies on all sides? That our border provinces are harried night and day by Kunishi barbarians, looting and pillaging? At least Elmoria enjoys the expanse of the Straight lying between her shores and Arath.”

Yet another tense silence fell between her and the Drakmori—heavy and impenetrable until Duchess Edith finally sliced through the quiet with a diplomatic remark of, “You have our sympathies, Ambassador Ezzo. We have heard many disheartening things about Drakmor’s troubles with Kuni.”

A scoff escaped the ambassador, and he slumped deeper into his chair. Setting aside his unfinished pastry, he plucked up his goblet of wine instead and gave it an absentminded swirl. “Disheartening?” the man dully echoed. “The creatures of Kuni areanimals, Your Grace. Ruthless and brutal.”

Seraphina arched an eyebrow. “Need I remind the ambassador that our court hosts two Kunishi at present? An Oracle of the Lord and her Shield, at that?”

Lord Ezzo’s attention lazily trailed toward her again. “Well, yes. But that’s a bit different, now isn’t it?”

As if the Oracle had been waiting for that very moment to enter, the doors to Seraphina’s receiving chamber suddenly flung open to reveal the prophetess standing there, next to her Shield. Both Kunishi were stunning in matching outfits of silver and gold. They gleamed with all the brilliance of the heavens when they stepped into the room together amidst a soft tinkling of the Oracle’s many bells.

Lord Ezzo spilled his wine when he lurched to his feet.

“Oracle Tsukiko,” Seraphina greeted the Kunishi woman. “You honor us with your presence.” With a smile curving her lips, she added, “Lord Ezzo, you have the great pleasure of being in the presence of Oracle Tsukiko, the Star of the East, and her Shield, Ichiro of Kuni.”

As if struck dumb by the Oracle’s sudden appearance, Lord Ezzo remained silent for the moment. But Tsukiko herself soon filled that silence with a murmur of, “Thank you for your invitationto this dinner, Your Majesty. I am greatly looking forward to hearing all about the peace summit you are planning.”

Blinking, the Drakmori ambassador asked, “Peace summit? What peace summit?”

Seraphina gestured for Lord Ezzo to retake his seat as she explained, “Elmoria wishes to formally invite Drakmor to a peace summit, which will take place on Nerina Reef. Clearly, there has been a misunderstanding between our two kingdoms, and we wish to make it right and sign into existence a fresh peace treaty before relations between us can sour further.”

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