Ruined (Ruined, #1)(26)

Besides two staff members, they were the first ones there, and Em took a seat next to Cas. The servants poured them tea and piled their plates with food. Em reached for a pastry covered in sugar, noting that there were no knives on the table. Her chair was made of wood, though, and could easily be broken. The king would probably sit at the end of the table, and she could smash the chair over one of his advisers’ heads, and then use a sharp edge to cut the king’s throat or maybe jam it into his chest.

“Feel free to speak up at this meeting, if you want,” Cas said. “I didn’t ask enough questions or talk when I first started attending, and everyone took it to mean I was bored and uninterested.”

She ran a napkin over her mouth. “Were you?”

“No. I just thought it was best to listen first. Get all the facts before forming an opinion.” He laughed. “My father is more of the type to form an opinion and then ignore facts later, so I don’t think he quite understood.”

She barely suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of his father. She stuffed the rest of the pastry into her mouth instead.

The warriors entered and took the seats across from Cas and Em. The staff served them food and tea as well, but the warriors all just sat there, regarding the provisions suspiciously.

Koldo’s full red cheeks made him appear younger than the other two, and he glanced at Iria and Benito, as if asking for permission to eat. Benito frowned at him.

“We didn’t poison it,” Cas said with a laugh, then took a sip of his tea. “If we were going to kill you, we would come up with something much better than poison.”

The warriors chuckled. “Perhaps we just don’t like the food here, Your Highness,” Iria said.

“Sure you don’t,” Cas said with a grin. He took a big bite of a meat pie on his plate. There was really no arguing that Lera had delicious food down to a perfect science.

“We don’t usually eat at meetings in Olso,” Benito said, but he reached for his tea, his huge hand engulfing the cup. Koldo’s eyes brightened, and he reached for a pastry.

The queen and Jovita entered the room, followed by four of the king’s advisers. They all took their seats, Jovita sliding into the chair next to Iria. The advisers sat down next to Em, opposite the warriors.

Em leaned closer to Cas, speaking in a whisper. “Is Jovita usually in these meetings?”

He nodded. “She’s being groomed to take over her late mother’s advisory spot. She’s only begun attending in the last year or so.”

The king strolled into the room, his usual big smile plastered on his face. The Olso warriors stood for him, and Em begrudgingly got to her feet with Cas.

“Good morning,” he said as he pulled his chair out and sat down. Chairs scraped against the floor as everyone else sat. “How was your first night in the castle?”

“Very nice, Your Majesty,” Benito said.

“You should visit the shore while you’re here,” the king said, sweeping his arm out to the window, in case they’d missed the view. “It’s lovely, you know.”

The warriors nodded without reply. Em suspected they would rather stab themselves in the eye than frolic on Lera’s beaches. She couldn’t blame them.

“Let’s get started right away,” the king said. “You’re here because your trade agreements with Vallos are no longer valid, since we control the country now. So tell me what you want.”

Iria slid a piece of paper across the table. “Those were our terms with Vallos. We’d request the same from you.”

The king frowned at the paper for a moment, then pushed it aside. Cas nudged it closer to him, and Em noticed him stealing a glance. The terms were most likely purposefully terrible, since the warriors had no intention of signing any new trade agreements. It was simply a distraction, so they could remain in Lera to plot the attack.

“No,” the king said.

“Do you have terms you’d prefer?” Koldo asked.

“No. That’s your job. Come up with something better.”

“We will send word to our king and draft new terms,” Iria said. “Should we move on? We’d like to discuss the port of Olso.”

The king folded his hands together and rested them on his stomach as he leaned back in his chair. “Yes?”

“The clause in the peace treaty that gave you the port expired five years ago,” Iria said. “Yet Lera ships are still there.”

“The clause expired only if Lera was satisfied that Olso didn’t pose a threat to any of the other kingdoms,” the king said.

“We don’t,” Koldo said.

“No?” the king asked. “I’ve just received word from my hunters that the Ruined were spotted trying to enter Olso.”

Em’s breath caught in her throat, and she looked at Iria, trying to keep her expression neutral. The warrior’s face showed genuine surprise. Koldo and Benito wore matching expressions.

“When did you hear this, Your Majesty?” she asked.

“Just yesterday.”

“I don’t know anything about that, but we can’t control what the Ruined try to do, Your Majesty,” she said.

“I have other reports saying that warriors have been spotted in Vallos as well. What would warriors be doing in Vallos?”