and offended. He’d only managed to be civil for an hour.
“I’m sure they are excellent scouts and perform admirably.” Averett’s tone remained even. “But your scouts are unfamiliar with the Escarlish army’s current weapons and only some of our tactics. They don’t know what terrain they need to look for or what hurdles my army might face that yours doesn’t or vice versa. Edmund does.”
Weylind’s mouth thinned as he too glanced at Edmund.
Edmund grinned and folded his hands behind his head. Even when he was attempting to look innocent, he still looked far too clever for his own good. Essie couldn’t fully blame Weylind for being a little apprehensive about letting Edmund run amok in his kingdom.
When Weylind turned his gaze back to Averett, his jaw was tight. “And I suppose, while he is scouting the northern border, he will also be noting Tarenhiel’s defenses?”
There was nothing too accusatory in the words. It was all in the tone, the hardness to Weylind’s eyes.
Essie tensed. Would Weylind see every move her brothers did in the worst light possible? Of course Edmund was going to note Tarenhiel’s defenses...as a way to help shore them up, not as the precursor to an Escarlish invasion.
For a moment, Averett just met Weylind stare for stare. Then, of all things, he let out a huff, rolled his eyes, and leaned his elbows on the table. “Oh, come off it. Stop getting your elven knickers in a knot and think rationally for half a second.”
Weylind’s jaw fell open. “I beg your pardon?”
Essie bit her lip, trying—and failing—to keep a straight face. Apparently Averett had decided to use her tactic of calling Weylind out on his huffiness.
Beside her, both Edmund and Julien had adopted their far-too-serious-and-about-to-pull-a-prank faces. Jalissa gave a soft snort before coughing delicately behind her hand.
Averett wagged a finger beneath Weylind’s nose. “I just offered to send both my brothers unprotected into your kingdom only hours after you harangued me about not protecting your brother while he was in my care. I’m making them perfect targets for your retaliation and placing faith in you that you won’t. So don’t act like you’re the only one taking a risk here.”
Weylind’s mouth worked, but he couldn’t seem to put together the words. Essie wasn’t sure she had ever seen the elven king look so much like he had swallowed a bug and didn’t know how to spit it out in a dignified manner.
“Furthermore, I just spent the past week with your foremost warrior, who already has one royal assassination on his record, wandering my halls with full access to observe my own security measures. I placed the life of my family in his hands several times and gave him the full trust of a brother. So do stop with your puffed up, offended dignity. I’m not buying it.” Averett jabbed Weylind in the chest to punctuate those last words.
Weylind stilled, his mouth hanging open, as if he couldn’t believe Averett had dared to cross his personal space boundaries. He glanced at Essie, almost as if begging, He is your brother. You deal with him.
Essie smirked and crossed her arms. No way was she stopping Averett now.
“And another thing.” Averett barreled on with all the enthusiasm of a runaway train engine with a full boiler of steam pressure. “We’re both going to get an eyeful of each other’s defenses, armies, strategies, and tactics by the time this is over. Yes, you’re taking the greater physical risk as you’ll be allowing me to march my armies across your kingdom. But you’ll also have my top generals and the best part of my army within your borders where you could just as easily turn on us. You may not have the numbers, but you did hold Escarland’s army at the border for five long years while also fighting a second war with the trolls. I’m not so naïve as to think that you aren’t formidable, especially inside your own forests.”
Weylind finally managed to close his mouth and regain some of his dignity. Enough for his expression to relax from outright hostility to cautious interest, his posture straight and leaning forward as if intrigued in spite of himself.
Averett tapped the signed treaty still sitting on the table between them. “So, yes, this alliance is going to take an incredible amount of trust. And, yes, if this ends badly, there’s a good chance we could take each other out long before the trolls get to us. But if this succeeds, our two kingdoms