“Your Majesty, they’re here,” Zariel whispered into Yulien’s ear.
His Eminence was supposed to have arrived half an hour ago, but the head servant assigned to care for the Prophet of Astara had rushed in to report that their esteemed guest had had some kind of emergency and would, unfortunately, be late.
It was obvious what His Eminence was doing—he was testing the waters, trying to assert dominance and push Yulien into an acquiescent role even before their official meeting. The game had started long before their arrival, with the prophet’s impromptu change of plans and his disregard for their arrangements and expectations.
Yulien clenched his fist, his eyes fixed on the door. He hated that he couldn’t put His Eminence in his place as he would have anyone else. But now was not the time
