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“My apologies, I cannot tell you. Every queen has her secrets, Odette. You must figure out your own way,” she said and then fully turned to me. “Where is she now?”
“Whispering into Gale’s ear about Ambrose.”
She exhaled loudly. “That woman often mistakes brute force for strength.”
“I have to ask—is it so bad?” I questioned. “Gale didn’t give the verdict. Yet half the country is now looking for him to overturn it. Even you? Why? I thought we were supposed to be neutral?”
“We are, but it’s hard to be neutral when our silence is seen as action,” she replied and nodded for me to follow her to the window.
“Those people out there. The ones protesting. They are it as a royally sanctioned execution. The first in years. My worry is it will haunt Gale. It is always better for us to be seen as magnanimous than harsh or cruel. Even if it is to people who harm us. Why? Because there might one day come a day when we will need the people to show us grace. We don’t know when or if ever it will all come to an end. We need them to look back at all the good we have done. We can’t harm them. Ambrose could be a small pebble to be brushed aside and moved or one we could trip over.”
“I don’t want Gale tripping,” I whispered.
“Neither do I. But the only who one can make sure he doesn’t is you.”
I frowned. “You are asking me to influence him now, too?”
She gave me a look. “Odette, you already do. The fact that no one can change his mind is because he so angry for you.”
I was trying to be nice and good. But I wasn’t so good that I was going to keep helping those who hurt me. Didn’t I do that enough with Augusta? Did I have to forgive the whole entire world?
“Elspeth, you were the one who told me to support him, so he is comfortable in his new rule as King. He’s made a choice. I’m not going to go out of my way to tell him he’s wrong. Because truthfully, I don’t think he is.” I sulked, looking out.
“All I will do is give advice, Odette, whenever you want it. You do not have to listen. You will do things your own way. I understand.”
“Thank you.”
The ten or twelve people who had gathered turned into nearly a hundred by noon. And it wasn’t just those who were on Ambrose’s side anymore. It was those who were vigorously against the death penalty. It was below freezing outside and the second day of the year, and this was what they decided to spend their time doing? Protesting for a racist? Giving everyone inside the palace a headache?
And as if that weren’t enough, I had the team in my face over the possible Sabina interview. It was so quiet over the holidays that I had nearly forgotten what it was like to have to see their faces. That and meeting the prime minister again was trying even when we agreed. But I had a feeling he was soon going to ask about Odette and that stupid identification card again. Everyone apparently wanted something.
“Sir, as we expected,” Balduin said, putting the request for a pardon down in front of me.
I closed the folder and put it to the side. “Is there anything else we have for the afternoon? I am supposed to be meeting Odette,” I asked, already getting up from the chair because I didn’t want to do anything anymore anyway.
“No sir,” he said, moving to the front door.
“Good,” I replied, stepping to see Iskandar waiting. Smirking, I adjusted my cuffs. “I knew you were fond of me, Iskandar. You might be the first to return from holiday early.”
“That was Wolfgang, sir,” he shot back. “He entered the palace a minute before me.”
I chuckled. He wouldn’t admit it, but I was glad he was back. I knew they had their lives and personal time. But it wasn’t the same without either of them here. “Walk with me. Tell me what you did during the holidays. Did you go back to Rozem to see your family?”
“I wanted to relax over the holidays, sir,” he said dryly. And it was amusing. Iskandar had his moments for sure.
“What is it you do to relax?”
“I go camping,” he replied.
“In this weather?” I paused to see if he was joking. Winter in Ersovia was always harsh. It was why Arthur named the dog Persephone before giving her to Sophia.
“It clears the mind.” He nodded.
The man was a rock. “Did you go alone?”
“Yes. Though my phone kept ringing because everyone else was very bored and wanted to keep me updated,” he said with a tone.
I knew who had earned that tone. “Wolfgang?”
