The departure of the Southern Delegation was as abrupt as it was spectacular.
By dawn, the Grand Courtyard of the Summer Estate was packed with heavily armed Southern guards loading iron-bound chests—including the one full of uncut diamonds—into a line of black carriages.
Kaia stood on the grand stone terrace, flanked by Victoria on her right and Prince Beckett on her left. Victoria's grip on the stone balustrade was so tight her knuckles were white. The Watchdog had lost her easiest escape route, and she was furious.
"Naval maneuvers," Victoria hissed under her breath. "He claimed his generals required his immediate presence for 'unforeseen naval maneuvers'. It is a transparent excuse. Someone threatened him."
Kaia kept her face perfectly blank, though her thighs still ached deliciously from exactly who had issued that threat in her locked bedroom yesterday afternoon.
