4

The rest of dinner passed in quiet, if sometimes stilted, conversation. Elias complained about his more incompetent court members and brainstormed upcoming changes to the tax code. I chimed in with questions and thoughts, here and there, and we kept the conversation carefully on topics of Efra and Frasia at large. Not about us or our relationship—our marriage. It was like were business partners instead. I found it was easier to settle back into feelings of civility with this careful boundary drawn between us. Maybe Fina was right. If we could find common ground between us as leaders, the rest of our lives could be a lot easier.

And it was easier for me to see him as the king, and not just as Elias. It hurt less. It made more sense.

After we finished eating, the servants swept in to remove our plates and replace them with small flagons of rich, dark sipping chocolate. The steam itself tasted sweet, floating up to surround me as I stirred the mug with a tiny silver spoon. It looked almost comically diminutive in Elias’ huge hand, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all as he lifted it and took a meager but grateful sip of his drink.

“Listen.” He set it down and fixed his eyes on me. “Thank you for joining me for this meal.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, my attention focused on my own drink. I didn’t want him to think that I had forgiven him for what he’d done to my life—only that I could potentially speak civilly to him when circumstances required.

“I invited you here because I have a proposition for you.”

I glanced up. “A proposition?”

“I’ve been called on a diplomatic visit to Shianga,” he said. “That was the reason for the meeting with the generals today. Typically for meetings like this, I’d send a member of the court in my stead, but this is a sensitive issue, and I don’t trust a representative to play it correctly.”

“Right,” I said, unsure of where he was going with this.

“I know we have our differences,” he said gruffly, “but I’d like you to join me on this trip.”

I set my mug down so quickly the chocolate nearly sloshed over the edges. “What? Join you?”

“Yes,” he said. “It’ll be a lot of diplomatic bullshit—honestly, the Shiangan king can be a real pain in my ass—but it’ll be good for you to start being involved in that kind of thing firsthand. Plus—” he flushed faintly “—I thought it might be good for us to spend some time away from the manor. Shianga’s a lovely country with some of the finest cartographers in the world. I know that interests you. It’d be a nice place to spend some time.”

I stared at him, slack-jawed. Shianga. The land of the dragon shifters. I’d read so much about Shianga, even learned how to use some of its famed, elegant weapons in my training, but never in my life did I think I’d get a chance to travel there.

He met my gaze steadily, but there was a glimmer of uncertainty there too. “Does that interest you?”

“Interest?” I was still shocked. “Elias, I—I’d love to go.”

He sat back, a pleased smile playing on his lips. “I thought you might. Good. I’ll begin the travel preparations and we’ll plan to leave next week. There are a few things we’ll need to cover.” He stood up and smoothed his shirt down, then wrinkled his nose as he turned over the logistics in his mind. “Certainly, there are court members we’ll need to bring with us as part of the party, and we’ll need to go over the expectations that Shiangan royalty will have for—oof!”

I cut him off in the middle of his sentence by throwing my arms around his neck. I’d done it before I’d even realized what I was doing, so overwhelmed by the sheer excitement of going to Shianga. I’d always dreamed of traveling, and now it was really going to happen.

I was going to see Shianga with my own eyes.

Elias’ hand drifted to my lower back as he returned the hug gently, like he was afraid of spooking me. I realized then that this was the most I’d touched him in nearly two months. My wolf was responding with delight, begging me to press closer and bury my face in his neck. I pressed my lips together and slowly stepped away. My fingertips dragged over the skin of his nape as I did so, and that bare amount of contact alone sent a zing down my spine. How was it possible he still had such an intense effect on me?

I cleared my throat and folded my hands awkwardly in front of my body. “Thanks, I mean,” I said. “For inviting me to come.”

“Well, you are the queen,” he teased carefully.

“It’d make just as much sense for you to leave the queen here to manage the day-to-day affairs,” I said. “So, thank you for not doing that.”

“Eventually I’ll just send you on all these boring diplomatic trips alone so I can manage the court at home,” Elias said with a sigh.

He had no idea the sheer amount of delight that filled me with. I bounced barely perceptibly on the balls of my feet, resisting the urge to start clapping with glee. The world that had felt so closed off here in Efra was starting to open up in front of me again.

“What members of the court typically travel with the king and queen?” I asked.

“Whoever you’d like,” Elias said. “I assumed you might want Fina and Adora with you as part of your convoy.”

“I did hope I could invite them,” I said. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“Not at all,” he said. “The Nightfall convoy is almost always the smallest to travel in, no matter how many wolves I bring along.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing,” I admitted.

“Nor am I,” he said with a smile.