~LUCIAN'S POV
"Will you always leave before the room learns how to breathe around you," Dravenna asked, her voice light enough to pass as curiosity, though the timing of it was anything but accidental.
Alaric did not stop immediately, though he did turn just enough to acknowledge her without offering the room anything more than that.
"If the room requires instruction," he replied, "it is already failing."
A few nobles stilled at that, but Dravenna did not.
"I would prefer to understand the conditions of success, then," she continued, her gaze steady on him. "If I am expected to stand beside your throne, I should know what you consider... acceptable."
That earned her a pause, enough to feel the change in attention across the chamber.
"You will not stand beside anything," Alaric said. "You will stand where you are placed."
The softness in her expression did not disappear, but something beneath it changed.
"And if I disagree with the placement."
