orazio and elise turned to face rune, who spoke the request, and falk.

standing side by side, the brothers made a stark contrast. rune was bright with his glimmering gold hair, hazel eyes, and charming smile. falk, on the other hand, had hair that was the dark shade of goldenrod-the darkest out of any of the true children of king henrik and queen ingrid-and brown eyes that were the color of darkly stained wood. rune was more relaxed; his jaw line, lips, and posture were curved like a soft smile. with falk, everything from his hair to the distinct frown of his lips were jagged.

orazio bowed. "of course. prince rune, prince falk," he said, his voice cool.

elise blessed orazio with one last portrait smile. "if you will excuse me, ambassador," she said before she slipped away, a foster brother on either side.

once they were far enough away, elise let her shoulders droop. "thank you for the timely rescue."

"you looked like you were contemplating murder, pearl," falk said, as blunt as ever.

"you force yourself to speak to orazio too much. he is as likeable as a skunk. you do not have to act as his personal host," rune said, ignoring falk's observation.

"but i do," elise sighed. "orazio cannot abide steffen, so steffen asked me to keep an eye on him and converse with him in his place. speaking of steffen, where is he?"

"smoozing the loire ambassador with gabi," falk said, nodding his head at the royal pair.

steffen and gabrielle made a beautiful couple-all smiles and good will-as they conversed with the loire ambassador.

"they're good," elise said. "looking at them one would never realized we barely avoided a war just a few days ago when the loire ambassador revealed they obtained the contract steffen made with the verglas assassin's guild."

"sloppy work that was," falk grunted.

"it wasn't as close as one would think. i spoke to mikk before the ball," rune said. "according to one of his sneaks, prince severin finally put his foot down and told crown prince lucien he wouldn't let him declare war on us. plus the contract was for an attempt on prince severin's life. if the guild, and steffen, was serious, prince severin would be dead."

"thank heaven for large miracles," elise sighed.

"we could have survived," falk said.

"yes, but we would have pulled in every favor and debt we've accumulated over the past decade," elise said.

"either way, war has been deflected. with luck, our countries will remain allies, but for now it is better to focus on more important things," rune said.

"such as?" falk asked, one of his eyebrows slanted in disbelief.

"the present, of course. elise, you look beautiful tonight," rune said, taking elise's gloved hand and kissing her palm.

"thank you. based on court opinion, this goes without saying, but both of you look very dashing and handsome as well," elise said, watching with amusement as several nearby noble ladies giggled and looked in their direction.

"hmph," falk said, directing his gaze away from the girls.

rune, however, smiled and inclined his head at the ladies, making them giggle louder.

"prince rune?" a female garbed in a palace guard uniform said after approaching elise and her foster brothers.

"yes?" rune said.

the guard removed her helmet and bowed.

"good evening, captain meier," rune said after identifying the guard.

"good evening prince rune, prince falk, and princess elise," the guard said, her greeting started warm, but her tone was chilled by the time she greeted elise.

"good evening, brida," elise said, familiar with the prickly warrior. she was a captain in the palace guard and was often assigned to guard elise or gabrielle as a result of her gender and steffen's overactive imagination. she seemed to get along fine with elise's family, but she was cold to elise.

"how can we help you?" rune said.

brida bowed again. "i was speaking to prince nickolas. he expressed a wish to see you. i offered to fetch you."

"i'm sorry to say it, but nick must do without me. i have just rescued elise from the clutches of a smug man, and i will not so easily surrender her company," rune said, playfully smiling at elise.

"it's fine; i see mertein with some of the commerce department staff. i would like to speak to him," elise said.

"i bet you would," falk muttered.

"elise, you cannot mean to drop me so soon after i saved you," rune said, his hazel eyes wide and sincere.

"i do," elise said.

"i see how it is. you use me as your hero, and when you have no need of me, you dump me," rune sighed, winking at an heiress who dawdled nearby.

"you found me out," elise said, motioning at mertein when she caught his eye to come closer.