Shae had only seen Lord Redgar Arress, the son of Silver the Fifth, once before, years ago, at an art show that her mother hosted. He had bought a particularly bloody painting from the battle of Ednin’s Pass, and part of Shae had always wondered where he had hung it. It wasn’t in his study though, which was filled with walls of maps, a wide desk in the corner also covered in maps--though these were marked with handwriting and had pins in them, unlike the framed ones on the walls--and a large fireplace stacked with burning logs, which Lord Arress stood beside. He was older now, in his late forties, but was still a broad, strong looking man. For the Festival, he wore a tailored green and silver suit with long tails, his straight black hair slicked back, and his goatee similarly glossed. He had a cigar in one hand and a crystal glass filled with amber liquid in the other, which he was sipping from when they entered.

“My Queen,” Lord Arress said upon seeing them, putting the drink on the mantle and bowing at the waist. He nodded to the only servant in the room, an older gentlemen, who immediately left the study and closed the door, leaving the three of them alone. “You do my House great honor in not only attending but also accepting my summons.”

“The pleasure is mine, Redgar,” the queen said, joining him by the fire.

“How was your trip?” he asked, taking a puff of his cigar and not bothering to ask if the queen wanted anything to smoke or drink, which Shae found odd. “Your two-week absence was most certainly felt in the capital.”

“It was well,” the queen said. “I wrote a detailed summary of it after returning to Ceres last night, and my scribes are busy copying it to send to all sixteen Heads of House. I expect you should have it by tomorrow, though you know how there can be delays around a time such as this.” Her hand indicated the festive attire that they were both dressed in.

“Of course,” Lord Arress said. “Anything of special note?”

“Besides the acquisition of my newest guard,” the queen said, motioning to Shae--Shae saw the Lord glance her way and she endeavored to stand arrow straight. “I’m happy to say that Council’s plans regarding the city of Tress and the surrounding area have been successfully implemented. Not only has the blockade been created in the bay, but the five watchtowers to the south and five to the north, set at mile intervals, are all nearly completed. I visited the five to the north personally and can attest that they should serve their function well. Now it merely falls to House Akor and you to properly man them.”

“I see,” Lord Arress said, picking his glass up to have a drink. “Though, as I’m sure you recall me telling the Council before you left, I still contend that the raiders are a nuisance, much like bad weather, and not the true problem that our nation should be expending resources on.”

The queen cocked her head. “A nuisance that costs us countless crops and goods, not to mention buildings, lives, and sometimes whole villages every year.”

“I know the tallies as well as you, my Queen. And I also know that they pale in comparison to the cumulative losses that we experience every day across the entire nation due thieves and vagabonds in our lands, as well as the pecking of other nations at our border. Which is why I needed to speak with you. A problem that has gone unchecked has only grown worse while you were away.”

“Which is?” she said, frowning.

“Lord Silver has been around not at all,” Lord Arress said, his voice grave.

“Ah, yes,” the queen said with a nod, her frown lifting. “I’ve already read the reports regarding that, as well as everything else that was sent to me while I was away.”

Shae blinked. They had been back at the capitol for less than a day, and the queen had managed to write a detailed analysis of her two-week trip and read every missive addressed to her during that time? Shae was starting to glimpse what it meant that the queen never slept.

The queen continued unabated. “As always, I am glad that we have such a competent Council to keep affairs in proper order while my husband and I are indisposed.”

Despite the compliment, Lord Arress seemed less than pleased. “You use the term ‘indisposed’ quite loosely, and while the Council can keep things moving forward, it is no replacement for a strong Vessel at our lead. Without one, we look weak, vulnerable as a nation.”

“I spoke to many different people in my travels,” the queen said. “And none of them voiced such a concern, not even a hint of one.”

“With all due respect, my Queen, if they truly felt that way, I doubt they would choose to share it with one such as you. What’s worse, I worry more about how other nations view us. Every day the Traitor’s War fades further into memory, and the other nations become increasingly bold in the risks they are willing to take.”

The queen raised a brow. “You have been keeping an eye on that which is House Trent’s purview? Is the role of watchdogging the safety of all of our cities, towns, and roads not a sufficient enough task to fill your time?”

“That is precisely why I have noticed, my queen. We have had fewer instances of larceny and burglary from immigrants in the last few months than we’ve had in years. Not to mention, fewer murders.”

“Those sound like good things,” the queen said.

Lord Arress shook his head. “There is always a steady stream of people who move between the nations, whether they are looking for fresh prospects, fleeing something, or are simply drifters, and some of those people always steal, or even kill, because they cannot find honest work. But the number of those events has slowed to a trickle, which means so too have the people coming into our nation. Where are they? What do they know that we don’t?” he said, punctuating the questions with the glowing end of his cigar. “The winds are changing, my queen, and we need to be vigilant, lest we are caught unawares.”

“You worry over a lack of crime,” the queen said, looking bemused, “instead of the death and destruction that the raiders visit upon us? Your father let himself become obsessed by that which could be instead of focusing on that which was and it cost him, and the nation, dearly. I would hate to see you follow the same path, Redgar.”

Lord Arress broke the cigar he was holding in half with his fingers, the two ends falling to the rug on the floor along with flakes of dried leaves. Shae instantly tensed. She couldn’t imagine that a Head of House would do anything to harm Lord Silver’s wife, and the queen looked perfectly calm. However, Lord Arress was a bull of a man and clearly angered deeply by the queen’s words.

“I know well the mistakes of my father,” Lord Arress said, stepping on a part of the rug that had started to smoke due to the dropped cigar, crushing the embers beneath his heel savagely. “And I am ever mindful of not repeating them. Perhaps that is why I see and say things that others do not.”

“And what is it you propose?” the queen said, folding her arms across her chest.

Lord Arress quaffed the remainder of his drink in a single gulp and then put the glass on the mantle of the fireplace, staring at the empty crystal for a moment as if collecting himself. “If Silver continues to refuse his role, then we have no choice but to consider moving up the eventual succession.”

The queen’s eyes widened slightly. “Are you implying that my husband be...removed?”

Lord Arress turned back to the queen and spread his hands. “I am not the one who started such a precedent--you have Houses Trent and Akor to thank for that,” he pointed out with an unamused twist of his lips. “I merely see that such a decision may be needed again, and I assure you, I am not the only Head of House who is starting to think so.”

“Surely it has not been that bad since I’ve been gone,” the queen said. “I will look to the requests that were made of my husband and--”

“You do much for this nation,” Lord Arress cut her off, raising his hand. “No one will deny that. But it is more than you should have to. You are not the Vessel of Silver and cannot replace him. For us to be strong, whole, we need someone who will be a true leader to the nation.”

For the first time since meeting her at Su’Sonith, Shae saw the queen show signs of frustration. It was different than the quick and hot fury that Lord Arress had displayed a few moments ago. This was a tightly controlled ire that manifested in the set of the queen’s jaw and the rigidity of her back. For a heartstopping moment, Shae wondered if the queen would step forward and disintegrate the man as easily as she did her meals.

“I will think on your proposal,” the queen finally said, and Shae let out a breath that she hoped neither of them heard.

“That is all I ask,” Lord Arress said, bowing his head slightly.

“If there is nothing else,” the queen said. “I shall rejoin my family for the Festival.”

“Please do,” Lord Arress said, and then added with a smile, “to hear my wife tell it, we might soon be related.”

“Indeed,” the queen responded, her voice perfectly neutral.

“I hope you enjoy the Festival,” Lord Arress continued. “I have something rather...special planned.”

“I’m sure we will,” the queen said and then turned to the door, which Shae quickly moved to open.

In the hallway, the queen waved off the liveried servant that had escorted them to the study, heading down the left tunnel alone as if she was familiar with this portion of the keep. Shae fell into step on her right side, feeling oddly off balance without Beatrix on the other side.

They walked in silence for a time, Shae thinking back through everything that had been said in front of her. While she had grown up in House Tissis’s keep, just on the other side of the city, it had been such a different world. True, she had visited many of the different Houses, even Silver’s Palace in the center of the capitol, but that had always been for things like galas, and concerts, and marriages, never conversations like this. Being the youngest of her parents’ four children, Shae wasn’t in line to be Tissis’s Head of House, and so had never been privy to any real national secrets or intrigues, just the silly court gossip that all noble children engaged in at some point.

She peeked an eye at the queen, who looked calmer that before, but still tense.

“Can I do anything for you, my Queen?”

“Hmm?” the queen said, looking briefly her way. “Oh, no, thank you. It’s just that man. He has a knack when it comes to aggravating me. He always has. I suppose it’s good to have some things in life that never change.”

“I see,” Shae said, closing her mouth, even though there were so many other things that she wanted to say.

As they walked, the number of servants gradually increased, and Shae could begin to hear the sounds of music and people talking drifting down the hall. Soon they would reach where the Festival was being held, where Beatrix and the queen’s family and a slew of other people would be, and this brief moment of privacy would have passed. Shae bit her lip, struggling to decide if she should speak her thoughts.

Ask, the voice in her head said.

It had been quiet for so long, Shae had almost forgotten that it was there, and its sudden presence seemed to push the words right out of her mouth.

“Is what Lord Arress said--”

The queen immediately stopped, turning to face her.

“I’m sorry,” Shae said, halting too and raising her hands. “I shouldn’t have--”

“Finish your question,” the queen surprised her by saying.

Shae hesitated, but the command and her curiosity won out. “Is it true about Lord Silver? That he’s”--she dropped her voice to a whisper--“not fulfilling his duties?”

“Yes,” the queen said, abruptly restarting her walk down the hall, which made Shae move quickly to catch up. “But my husband is a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, let us enjoy the Festival. Surely even a man like Lord Arress can get that right.”