“Are you certain that you’re feeling up to it?”
The queen's sister had called upon years of political grooming to school her expression into one of mild concern, which hid the near panic she truly felt, as she watched the mage don his tunic and sandals with shaking fingers. Just a few days ago, he'd been at death's door. And, now...
Unconsciously, Lucia began to gnaw at her lower lip, a nervous habit from bygone days that always drew a snicker from her siblings...
...and, for Soren, betrayed her anxiety as surely as if she'd started bawling.
“Don’t worry about me, Lucia. Your thoughts would be better spent on
“You can’t be serious.”
As was often the case, Ike's words gave voice to what everyone in the room was already thinking, save for the informant and, perhaps, the mage.
The cloaked rouge, looking somewhat out of place in the council chamber, merely frowned. “I wouldn’t joke about news so grim.”
His fiancée’s face paled. “Fifteen thousand men… against our own seven thousand…” As if the blood draining from her face wasn't enough, a clear note of horror had seeped into her tone, but her siblings were quick to step in with reassurances.
“Doubtless many of them are unt