“Ariane,” Prince Lucien said.
Ariane snapped her attention off the food. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Eat.”
I must have misheard him. “I beg your pardon, Your Highness, could you repeat that?”
Prince Lucien set about investigating a teacup of water one of the servants had set out for him. “Eat. Try out…whatever you wish, though I would recommend the beef.”
Feeling rather confused, Ariane frowned. “This is your food, Your Highness. I cannot eat it. Unless…are you asking for a food taster?”
Prince Lucien croaked. “No, I am not asking for a food taster,” he said, sounding offended. “It is merely that…” he trailed off when he nearly fell into his teacup. “For land’s sake, just eat!”
Ariane looked from Lucien—who was still struggling with his teacup—to the mouth-watering food, to those gathered around the table. She slowly picked up the utensils and paused—half waiting for someone to renounce her for daring to eat from the royal table.
Her hesitation lasted only half a second before she started with sampling the chestnut soup. She worked her way through it, the smoked eel, buttered asparagus, and a single candied fig.
“I see you don’t trust my recommendation,” Prince Lucien said as he moved his attention to his single goblet of wine.
Ariane nearly choked on the asparagus she had been nibbling on. “I assumed your recommendation meant you liked it, Your Highness, and wished to eat it.”
Ariane had purposely steered clear of the rarer dishes and delicacies—like the beef. She would have loved to try them, but Lucien’s sudden goodwill was rather unexpected, and she didn’t want to sour it by eating something he wanted.
Prince Lucien skirted her plate. “That chunk of meat is as big as your fist—I couldn’t cram such food into my belly even if I wished to. But no mind. If you won’t try it, then you should at least try the sorbet when it’s brought out.”
“Are you ready to eat, Your Highness?” Ariane asked.
Prince Lucien fished a candied fig from the bowl and waddled to the bowl of lobster bisque. “Yes, but I want the bisque, which I am more than capable of eating myself, I assure you.”
“Good afternoon, Prince Lucien,” a wizened, female voice said.
Ariane whisked her utensils under the table—hiding them for the moment—and raised her gaze to see an older woman with snow white hair. It took Ariane several moments before she could place her as Rider Nareena—the Purple Rider of the Farset King and the royal representative of Farset.
“Rider Nareena, how delightful to see you,” Prince Lucien said in a charming tone. “To what do I owe this charming surprise?”
Even as a frog he just oozes charisma.
“I wished to thank your brother for making all the arrangements for this Summit.” The rider glanced at Severin—who had momentarily slipped from the table and was conversing with guards a few feet away.
“He has done a magnificent job,” Prince Lucien said. “Both in organizing it and in presiding over it.”
“Indeed,” Rider Nareena said. “You are very lucky to have him, you know.”
Prince Lucien’s frog eyes darted in Severin’s direction. “Yes,” he agreed.
“With Prince Severin’s leadership in the military and sense of direction, Loire has a bright future before it,” Rider Nareena said. “It is a blessing for you that the two of you get along as well as you do. Without him, your life would be quite different.”
“Exactly,” Prince Lucien said.
The tone he used made Ariane sit up straighter and glance at him in surprise. His voice was as false as the magic snake that had attacked him. What brought that on?
“It looks like he is now available, so you are free to shower your praises upon him. Enjoy the luncheon, Rider Nareena,” Lucien said.
“Thank you, Your Highness.” The older woman glided off, making her way to Severin.
Lucien—utterly silent—returned to his lobster bisque and spent the remainder of the meal quietly eating. (He didn’t even finish his wine!)
His unusual behavior—both in letting her eat and in his obvious displeasure at Rider Nareena’s observations—confused Ariane. She picked at the thought as she carried Lucien back to the ballroom that served as the meeting room.
I don’t understand. He clearly adores Severin, so what did Rider Nareena say that disturbed him so?
What was perhaps the most thought-provoking, however, was the idea that Lucien might be more complex than the charming-yet-arrogant dandy he appeared to be.
“Verglas can send supplies; however, we are in the middle of a structural reorganization of our army,” Queen Linnea said. “We need to finish retraining our soldiers before we can send any.”
The King of Torrens raised a bushy eyebrow. “You grew too placid with your magic wall, hm?” He was jolted when one of his fellow Torrens representatives smacked their hand down on the table in front of him.
“No,” Queen Linnea said frostily. “We toiled under the rule of a deranged king.” She narrowed her eyes and likely would have said more, if her friend—Gemma—hadn’t taken her hand and squeezed it.
“Arcainia can supply troops and limited funds,” Princess Elise of Arcainia said.
Ariane tilted her head to study the princess, noticing—with some curiosity—that her twin foster brothers stood behind her and whispered in her ear.
“No supplies?” Prince Callan of Ringsted asked.
Crown Prince Steffen shook his head. “Clotilde brought famine and destruction on our lands. We’re still trying to recover.”
“Ringsted can offer ships, of course, and supplies. Though we were isolated we still had bountiful harvests,” Prince Callan said. “It seems, however, that there haven’t been any battles at sea, so we may be relegated to transportation.”
His fiancée, Princess Dylan, had a basket of crescent rolls in front of her that she was steadily devouring. “We Selkies can send some of our people with the ships—to guarantee easy ocean passage.”
Ariane watched with fascination as Princess Dylan ate three crescent rolls and showed no signs of stopping.
“We can transport troops as well,” Prince Callan added. “But we will need a reserve number of ships to keep on Ringsted shores. Our experience with the sea witch has made us…averse to possible situations that might isolate us again.”
Prince Severin nodded and made notes. “A reasonable request.”
It struck Ariane that, considering he was a genius military tactician, Severin spent a great deal of his time writing and taking notes. Curious, she glanced down at Lucien. I’ve never seen Lucien read…but I know his personal study is packed with books and files.
“And what of Sole?” Prince Nickolas of Arcainia asked.
The two mages who were representing the distraught country shook their heads. “We are only mages and cannot promise anything.”
“Do you believe, when they awaken, the royal family would be willing to give any sort of aid?” Prince Severin asked.
Mage Firra hesitated, then shook her head. “Unless the situation radically changes, I don’t believe King Giuseppe will.”