Queen Natalie
I watched them for the entire dinner.
Not obviously. I was never obvious. I had spent thirty years in pack politics learning that the most powerful thing a woman could do in any room was make people forget she was paying attention. I smiled at the right moments and laughed at the right remarks and kept my wine glass at exactly half full the entire evening and I watched.
Valkor sitting across from the girl at the far end of the table instead of beside me where he belonged.
Valkor reached for his water glass at the same unhurried pace he maintained for every second of the evening, giving nothing away to anyone watching him less carefully than I was.
The girl sat with her spine perfectly straight and her face pleasant and open, speaking to the elder beside her like everythi
