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I watch him head for the doorway, my gut tugging at me to follow him.
Before I’ve quite made the decision to leave, Petra taps her hands against the tabletop. “Now I think we should discuss the possibility of the kingship trials."
My gaze jerks back to her in the same moment as a few grunts and other disgruntled noises sound from around the table.
“Trials?” Baron Cyris says. “Isn’t that one of the bizarre ideas Lothar’s people have been babbling about?”
Petra inclines her head in acknowledgment. “It is. But I believe we can adjust the concept to work in our favor.”
One of the other nobles lets out a sputter of a laugh. “How could they possibly be a benefit to us?”
Petra’s eyes seek me out by the other end of the table. I’m the one who suggested this idea to her—but she isn’t singling me out or demanding that I justify the strategy.
Somehow that makes me feel even more compelled to step in.
I raise my voice to carry over the uneasy murmurings. “A lot of Silana’s citizens have shown that they don’t trust the Melchioreks to have their best interests at heart. We heard demands that the next ruler prove themselves worthy in both Florian and Tupno. And they don’t really know Petra. Even if they’re starting to doubt the Order of the Wild, that doesn’t mean they believe in her enough to risk their livelihoods and their lives on her behalf.”
Most of the heads around the table swivel toward me. The baroness’s lips curl with a hint of a sneer. “So you think our queen should put her life on the line to convince them?”
“Not her life,” I say quickly. “That’s why we’d adapt the idea. Nothing brutal or as dangerous as I’m sure Lothar is imagining—or as skewed in the Order’s favor. We’ll come up with tasks for Petra to complete that would make people feel more confident and prove her strength without taking too immense a gamble.”
“Exactly.” Petra folds her arms over her chest. “And there’s another very good reason to put on such a demonstration. We can call for Lothar to submit his own candidates. It won’t be much of a trial if I have no competition. If he wants to prove himself a fair player, he’ll need to show up. We’ll have our first real opportunity to expose his and his top followers’ treachery directly—and to address it as we see fit.”
With a sword through Lothar’s skull, preferably. But even as my spirits stir at the thought of confronting the villain on equal ground, my stomach flips over.
Petra never mentioned that element before. It wasn’t part of my initial idea. And it sounds as if…
Klaudia puts my concern into words before I can. “You’re talking about using yourself as bait.”
Horror tinges her tone, but Petra responds calmly. “I’m the only bait that would work. I trust that you all will ensure I’m never under more threat than is worth it to see our purpose through.”
No one quite seems to know how to argue against that statement. Our future queen gazes around the table. “Let’s get on with it, then. We need to brainstorm what our trials might look like, how we would spread the word, where we should hold them.”
Her call to action finally spurs the uncertain to speak.
Tinom frowns. “I’m not certain this is a wise tactic, Your Highness. Regardless of what precautions we try to implement, the risks you’d need to take?—”
“It’s absolutely inappropriate,” Countess Mirina breaks in. “Our queen, dueling against whoever the riffraff throws up against her?”
Petra gives a cough that might cover a laugh. “I don’t think we’d include any actual dueling, Mirina.”
Baron Cyris waves his hand dismissively. “A queen shouldn’t lower herself to that level. You have to think of how it would appear to your most devoted supporters, Your Highness.”
My hackles rise. Supporters like him, he means.
The words burst out before I can catch them. “Unless you can win the throne back for her—and keep it—all on your own, we need the support of the common people too.”
He turns to me with a huff. “What do you know about the ways of the court? I never saw you before three days ago.” He shifts his attention back to Petra. “You must heed our advice, Your Highness. Nothing good ever comes of giving way too much to the masses.”
A flurry of other voices follow his, most of them echoing his protest.
My magic shudders, prodding me to shut them all up, preferably by knocking them on their pompous asses. I clamp down on it instead and gather myself to jump back into the argument.
Then my gaze catches on Petra’s face.
Her mouth has tightened, her expression momentarily uneasy.
She isn’t totally committed to this course. They’ve shaken her resolve.
