Sita popped her head out of the closet again and nodded. “If her closet is this big then I’m sure the peasant quarters are just as grand.”
“My partner doesn’t want to live in the castle. She told me I’m free to work here but she would like to forge her own path.”
“You don’t have to work in the castle, but I’m sure Edna will be looking for more help soon enough.”
Sita shouted from the closet. “I’ve already been offered the royal dressmaker title.”
“Edna appointed you?”
Out her head popped again. “No, I appointed myself.”
I laughed as I slipped from the bed and hurried to the food waiting for me. “Of course you did.”
Which I didn’t mind at all. I wanted her as my royal dressmaker. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The magic making my dresses and fitting me now would eventually go away and I would need someone spectacular to take up that mantle. The only one who would ever be able to step into those shoes was Sita.
“That’s completely okay with me,” I said around a bite of a perfectly flaky biscuit. “I would have appointed you myself.”
Livia sat on the edge of my bed. “Do you think there will be training grounds for your army?”
I lifted a brow. “I love you and I want you to have the life of your dreams but joining the army has much higher stakes now. The chances of you not returning to your family are extremely probable. You need to talk to your partner before you join or before you make up your mind about joining.”
Her light brown brows were pulled together in the center of her forehead as she mulled over my words. If they decided the army was where she needed to be, I wouldn’t turn Livia away but I also couldn’t have her marching into all of this blind. I knew they saw horrors on their way. I knew they’d lost many, but I couldn’t risk my friend’s life on a whim or a daydream. They both needed to know that this was real life and it could last years. I really hoped it didn’t, but I also knew nothing of war. I’d never experienced one. This could get bad very quickly for this kingdom. Wars took a lot of money and up until then, I hadn’t thought about the coffers or what this kingdom had as far as money went. How would I pay for my army? How would I pay the people working in the castle? It hadn’t been a prevalent thought in my head because there hadn’t been enough people for it to matter. Now? Now was a completely different story and I didn’t know how to move forward.
As I thought over all of these new issues, I ate my food quickly. A knock at the door made me pause. Since when didpeople knock around here? I guess since more people lived here now. I straightened in my chair before I wrapped my robe tighter around myself. “Come in.”
The doors swung open to reveal Alric on the other side. I frowned. Really, since when did even he knock? Both of his arms were tucked behind his back as he peeked into my chambers. “Are you decent?”
“Has it ever mattered?” I retorted as I finished off another biscuit.
“Always, Your Highness.” His voice was curt and professional. What was going on?
“Are you sick?”
He cleared his throat. “No, Your Highness.”
I pressed my fingers into my eyes. “Then why in the Seven Hells are you calling me by my royal title and caring about whether or not my decent?”
He ran his hand down his jaw and looked around my room before his shoulders slumped slightly. “I didn’t know who was with you.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and counted my breaths, it was too early for all of this. “It’s only Livia and Sita.” Livia was stripping my bed sheets and Sita was still digging through my closet. She would be in there for a while. With an armful of blankets and sheets, Livia curtsied and left the room.
“I see that now, I don’t know what protocol is around others.”
“You’re going to be one of my advisors as soon as I have more guards. When that happens, we will be on pretty level footing.”
One side of his mouth quirked up in amusement. “No, we will never be on level footing but it’s a nice notion and an interesting thought, I suppose.”
“Would you like to be one of my advisors?” I leaned back in my chair and crossed one ankle over my knee. In other company,I wouldn’t have dreamed of sitting in such a position, but with Alric, I knew he thought nothing of it.
“I would love nothing more, but I would also love to continue to be your spymaster.”
I waved my hand, as if he’d ever have to worry about anything else. “How did your little adventure go last night?” I was sure by the time he’d returned to the castle it was late and all the new people probably caused quite an emotional stir.
He seemed to deflate even further. “Nothing to report. He trains, he goes to his rooftop home, and he cooks his own dinner. He doesn’t even speak to anyone. He plays with a few children in the trees and that’s it.”
“I never considered you much of a climber,” I took a sip of my juice.
He seemed to regain some of his lost ego from that. “There are many things you don’t know about me.”
