“If he gets funds, then the roads in my district should be funded too!”
“The roads in your district are just fine!”
With each sentence, the men’s voices grew even louder. The guards on either side of the door glanced at each other, as if wondering if they should intervene.
But they didn’t have the clout to interrupt two lords.
Lorne did.
He marched across the room and strode into the office on the far side as steadily as he could manage.
Inside, two lords he vaguely recognized from the gathering of the council he’d attended loomed over Adeline’s desk. One even had the temerity to press his palms to the surface and lean forward, as if to intimidate his queen.
Adeline sat sword-straight in her chair, her chin high, but he could see the way she was barely holding herself together. Her hands were hidden beneath the desk, but he’d bet they were trembling. As he entered, her gaze flicked up to his, something like a desperate pleading for rescue in those brown depths.
How to rescue her without undermining her position as queen? Or without seeming to wield too much authority for a man from an enemy kingdom?
“What is he doing here?” One of the lords sneered over his shoulder at Lorne.
The other didn’t speak, but he had a similar look of disgust curling his mouth.
Lorne plastered on a smile and added a slight saunter to his gait as he edged around the two men. “I apologize for the interruption, but I simply had to have a moment with my lovely wife.”
“He is my husband. I gave him permission to interrupt anytime.” Adeline didn’t quite manage as nonchalant a tone as he had, but she didn’t flinch when he bent down and pressed a light kiss to her cheek.
Perhaps the gesture was crossing a line, but it put his mouth close enough to her ear for him to whisper, “I’m here. Tell me what you need.”
She gave the slightest nod in response, her hands twitching in her lap.
He would have liked to reach down and take one, but he didn’t dare demonstrate that much affection with the two lords watching. Instead, he took a spot at her shoulder and just slightly behind her, as befitted his standing as consort. When he rested his hand on the back of her chair, his fingers just brushed her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting touch.
Some of her shaking stilled, and when she faced the two lords again, she had a new steel in her eyes and in her voice. “I have made my decision, gentlemen. The bridge in Eldenville is a hazard and must be fixed. But, Lord Harding, the roads in Durry are currently adequate. The royal funds are better spent elsewhere at this time. However, should the war end, freeing up more royal funding, I will consider the roads in Durry as high on the list for allocating those funds.”
The lords finally bowed and left, one with a triumphant stride and the other with jaw still working. A guard shut the door after them, leaving Adeline and Lorne alone.
Adeline gusted out a sigh, shuddered, and slumped over her desk. “I can’t do this. I was about to burst into tears before you came in.”
Lorne stepped to her side and knelt so that he was looking up at her rather than her craning her neck to see him. “I thought you handled that well. Clever to put in a mention of how ending the war will benefit the kingdom. If that lord feels strongly enough about his roads, he might consider backing you when you pursue peace with Lalsacia.”
“I hope so. Or he will be so angry with me that he will oppose anything I do, no matter how sensible.” Adeline glanced at him before swinging her despairing gaze back to the piles of paperwork on her desk. “I’ve sent word to the troops at the border to stand down and only defend themselves if Lalsacia attacks, but things haven’t deescalated enough to reach out yet.”
“Perhaps if I wrote a letter? You could send it with a trusted emissary. Or one of my men.” Lorne worked to keep his tone casual, as if this didn’t matter a great deal to him.
He didn’t dare write his father outright that he was alive. But his father would recognize his handwriting, and if he could convince Adeline to send one of his guards, that guard could tell his father in person what had happened.
Adeline paused, considering, before she shook herhead. “I’d like to make our more peaceful stance clear by our lack of attacks at the border before making any overtures of peace. After what my grandfather did to you and your men, Lalsacia’s king might do the same to any envoys I send. And I’d rather your king not find out exactly what my grandfather did to you and your men until after a peace is signed, so I can’t send one of your men or even a letter just yet.”
From her standpoint, such a thing would make sense. She wouldn’t want to enrage the Lalsacian king with news of torture before presenting him with a peace treaty. Nor did she fully trust him yet. She didn’t dare allow him to write a letter that might have a code hidden in it somewhere.
She didn’t know that the Lalsacian king was his father. Lorne could smooth the way for her and for peace, despite what had happened. While he might add a code to a letter, he’d only do it to reassure his father that he was alive and well.
Yet unless he wanted to confess the truth, he couldn’t argue with her decision, painful as it was to leave his father still worried, still wondering. Did his father assume that he was dead? Did he know that Lorne had been captured and brought back to Kelverny?
What else could he do but acquiesce and bide his time, waiting for an opportunity to send word to his father?
“All right. I understand.” Lorne pushed to his feet, rounded the desk, and sank into one of the chairs facing her, stifling his groan at the wayhis ribs still hurt. He gestured at the stacks of paperwork. “If I were a normal prince consort, I’d be able to help you with this.”
“But you’re from an enemy kingdom.” Adeline’s mouth tipped with the first hint of a smile since he’d come in. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to see sensitive documents.”
