POV: Caleb
The council chamber was already half full of raised voices by the time I arrived, which told me everything about how the morning was going to go before I'd even taken my seat.
"—a formal date, Your Majesty, or the Vale family will begin to wonder if this kingdom takes its own commitments seriously—"
That was Lord Ashworth, my mother's favorite mouthpiece for exactly this argument, delivered in the particular tone of a man who'd rehearsed it in front of a mirror.
"The Vale family can wonder whatever it likes," my mother said, from the head of the table, in a voice that could have frozen the tea in every cup in the room. "Betrothals are not decided because of anyone's impatience."
"With respect, Your Majesty, the betrothal negotiations have been 'progressing' for the better p
