Chapter 18 - The First Test

I suddenly feel very awkward about the intimacy of our seating arrangement, so I quickly turn away and raise my wine to my lips, taking another big sip. Mahl, amused, gestures towards a Gamma who quickly comes over to give me a refill.

“Oh –“ I say, surprised as the wine fills my glass. I quickly thank the Gamma before Mahl dismisses him with a wave. “I’m sorry,” I say to Mahl, a little embarrassed. “I don’t mean to get drunk –“

“Do it,” he says, raising his eyebrows. “If it pleases you.”

I cock my head to the side a bit. “Surely,” I say quietly, with a little smile, “you would not want to present a drunk Queen to your court on her first day?”

“What I want, Everleigh,” he says, leaning closer to me and making my muscles tense, “is for you to be comfortable. If that means drinking your weight in wine, then do it! If the Queen is drunk,” he whispers, as if it’s our little secret, “that merely means that everyone else is too sober.”

I laugh a little despite myself, a little undone by Mah