After leaving May with the prince, the four of us turn to enter the audience chamber. Although our previous audiences have been in the throne room itself, the change of setting seems fitting this time.
After all, not only have we brought more people than usual, but our request is...
Much more complex and difficult.
Roland squeezes my arm a bit more tightly than usual. "Nervous, kid?" He murmurs in my ear.
"Well." I frown and exhale heavily. "Can't say I've ever been part of negotiating with a king to demand aid...or lands for the displaced citizens of his own kingdom."
The older man chuckles.
"Kid. Don't you go fretting your pretty little head over this. I know old Henri pretty well. We fought on the same battlefields for a while."
Henri speaks, then. "Until you left the war before it was over."
That...
Isn't the kind of interjection I want to hear from the king right now.
