When Arianna woke, the sun was high in the sky and someone was moving around in the main room.

She sat up with a start, disoriented and momentarily panicked. Then memory returned—the King's quarters, Duncan's orders to rest, the enormous bed she'd finally surrendered to out of exhaustion.

Voices drifted through the open doorway. Duncan's deep rumble and another voice she didn't recognize—male, younger, with an edge of irreverence that seemed startlingly out of place when addressing a king.

"—telling you, the council is losing their minds. Fredrick's claiming you're showing favoritism to some Ravenwood refugee, Valkyrie's spinning it as proof you're losing your edge, and half the nobles think...