30

“No!” I shouted to Lex. “No. I’ll handle this. You will not.”

He sat down and closed his mouth, fuming with anger, but he was staying silent. Bastien looked at Lex and nodded his approval. I was not going to lose Lex again, not because of a tyrant like Polonius.

Polonius looked at me and smiled as he let go of Gabrielle’s hand, who was still not making eye contact with me.

“Good, my dear,” he said. “I warned you about making political decisions based on your personal preferences. Remember, you were given to me in a treaty that defined terms forbidding me and my army from invading Navarrah City. I have a copy of that treaty here.” Polonius took a stack of papers out of a leather satchel. “As worded, the treaty also protects the other kingdoms of Tobran from an unprovoked attack.” He sneered.

“That treaty was never signed,” King Helix interjected.

“Exactly,” Polonius said. “The treaty was never signed, but the marriage contract that was included with it was. And here I have Aria’s signa