A deathly quiet fell upon the hall. Without a doubt, Ro knew the attendants or even Iver himself would be listening in. There was no other reason he would do this.
'No wonder Ester looked like that.'
Ro glanced at the table. They all stared at her. To them, she would have known the reason for their momentary departure. Still, she didn't think Iver would take that long to arrive. The food had already been served, and it would be in poor taste to wait until it had gotten cold for them to eat.
Ro made her way to the seats at the head of the table, chose one and sat down.
The furniture dwarfed her, just as it did the other guests. Thankfully, the long table had a mechanism that had made it lower.
A nice consideration from the attendants.
But how would Iver eat?
"Oh." Ro looked around, perusing their faces. "Don't mind me. Iver will be joining us very soon."
A lot of their faces twisted up in disgust. Tury and another lady's mouth hung open. Willow sported a grin.
One of the officials stood up, the wrinkles on his face twisted in restrained fury. "First, you sit without waiting for your future husband to arrive, then you—"
The official beside him latched onto his arm, the disapproving look on his face shutting the man up. He shook his head.
The old man glared at Ro and snatched his arm to himself, sitting back down.
Ro smiled. She did not have to fake it. This pleased her greatly.
"I hope the cold did not bother you upon your arrival," she commented.
Some of them shifted in discomfort as if recollecting an unpleasant memory.
"Thank you for your hospitality," one of the nobles commented, a rigid smile peeking out of his greying beard.
"I am glad you have been made comfortable. Iver would be glad to hear that," Ro simply responded.
Everyone except Willow grimaced. This was the second time she was calling him by his name. The first time had taken Ro slightly by surprise. He had not given her permission to address him as such. But she couldn't help but think he wouldn't mind.
Even as a wife, it was disrespectful to refer to your husband by his first name without his title. Much less, before marriage.
She could not inherently trust that man. The fact that he pulled this. Her thoughts drifted to the sand stone in her pocket. She could feel it. The stone was pure, untainted, and undeniably the real thing.
She fought the urge to look at the strange nymph.
It was a costly thing to acquire. Very costly. Especially when soil nymphs were rare.
This could boost her abilities beyond measure. And it would help her escape. She could actually live underground for months, even a year.
She could even move to another land. Or another Lispan city.
'This is such a golden opportunity. Why did she give me this, and what did she mean by that?'
"Can you find out what is taking him? The food will get cold," someone murmured.
"He won't be long. Please, wait. The food here can be exceedingly hot. It takes a while for it to cool down." A pause. Ro eyed Tury. "Why did you bring her?"
Fern sighed, the annoyance fading from his features and morphing into a strange glee. "I know you two do not get along, but our cousin really wanted to see you one last time."
A number of officials and nobles smirked. It then dawned on Ro that they had all been in on this.
A chill cut through Ro.
For all she knew, this could have been a ploy to get rid of her. Particularly since the governor had passed away. Have the Lispans know the truth soon, have her killed after placing the blame on her, and appease the Lispans…
'No. That's wrong. It wouldn't work that way…'
The Lispans were far from stupid, from what she had noticed. She tried to think of any reason Erzi could have had to do something like this, unless they were actually ready for a war against the Lispans.
"You should not have brought her here." Ro grimaced.
"You have no right to decide who should come and who should not. You have no right to decide anything, in fact," one of the officials snapped.
Ro eased her features to a blank slate. The empty look she had always carried about in Erzi. "You have all made an utterly foolish decision."
Willow's lips twitched. The young nymph was struggling with a hidden, silent laugh that went unnoticed by everyone, except Ro.
"Don't get so high and mighty just because you're not in Erzi. We are the ones who put you here. I put you here," Fern hissed, his eyes hardening. "Know your place."
"You are even more talkative than before," Ro ignored Fern, directing her question towards the others.
Her eyes narrowed. She didn't care if the wolves were listening in anymore. While she didn't want the truth to be discovered. She had a failsafe escape route now. She had to make sure there was no avenue for her to carry the blame for this severe mishap. With their own words, they would admit what they had done.
"I find it hard to believe that such an arrangement, my arrangement, was made without much forethought," she started, her voice low. "I am in the dark as to what is happening. Perhaps I wasn't meant to know all the details?"
Their faces rattled with mortification and horror. They, too, likely had it in mind that someone would be listening in. Unless…
"You do not have to worry about eavesdroppers. The walls here are stone. Very thick, and absorbs sound as I am sure you have seen," Ro added.
She wasn't inherently lying. But even if that was the truth for the Lispans, someone of Iver's calibre would be able to pick out the words.
Then again, she had not actually tested how keen the wolves' hearing was.
"Shut up. That is enough from you!"