Helian frowned. “You have that look in your eyes again, Frost.”

  “Which one?”

  “The look that says you’ve done something stupid and you’re trying to figure out how to avoid mentioning it.”

  “You’re half right. I promised Mother I’d tell you, but I was hoping to wait until after lunch.”

  She chose an unfortunate tomato from her salad and obliterated it with her fork. “I see. Well, the mood is already ruined, so you might as well tell me now.”

  In my defense, the mood was already bad before this. I thought she was just upset that I cancelled on her yesterday, but she doesn’t get this angry over things that minor. Usually.

  “The monster incursions at the border are much worse than usual this year.”

  She nodded. “I see. And between the county and the duchy, we’re responsible for a large portion of the border.”

  “Yes. At this morning’s meeting we discussed whether to send reinforcements to the highest-risk stations – ‘wait and see’, as Mother put it – or declare a Hunt and attempt to cull their populations before things get any worse.”

  Helian sighed deeply. “You suggested a Hunt, didn’t you.”

  I shrugged. “We were all thinking about it. Mother is just worried that whoever goes will get hurt. But it’s not as if the alternative is safer. If we let the monsters continue to breed, their numbers could surge to the point that the border completely collapses.”

  “So, you’re going, then?”

  “Unless plans change, yes. It’s either me or Selene, and as the dame put it, this is ‘a good opportunity for me to gain experience while Mother can protect me from the consequences of my mistakes’.”

  Helian leaned back in her chair and sighed. “You volunteered.”

  “I wouldn’t say I volunteered… it’s more like we all assumed it would be me. Though I guess by suggesting it, I was effectively volunteering. And now that you mention it, I never suggested sending Selene instead… so, I volunteered, I suppose. Yes.”

  Helian was staring blankly at me. I decided to let her process whatever she was thinking instead of coaxing a reply out of her, lest she snap at me. To be fair, I kind of deserved it. After an uncomfortably long pause, she angrily asked: “So? Did you?”

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  “If you want me to repeat myself, yes, I volunteered.”

  As I uttered the words repeat myself, she looked genuinely confused. “Helian, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  “Sorry, Frost, I must have gotten distracted. I thought you ignored my question. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  This was probably what Rosa had mentioned earlier. Thinking back, it had likely occurred before and I hadn’t paid attention to it at the time.

  “That’s okay. I did something stupid, after all.”

  She shook her head energetically. “No, no – I don’t think this is stupid. You’re right, a Hunt is the correct choice. I’m glad you convinced Her Grace to see reason despite her fears. I just wish you hadn’t volunteered… it would be much better if Selene handled this. It’s absurd that a single House is responsible for safeguarding half the border.”

  Helian had a point. In the past, the responsibility for protecting the border was spread across at least a dozen houses, but over time the number had dwindled until (due to Mother’s new proud ownership of two different titles) it was the responsibility of only four. And in practice, most of the monster incursions occurred on either Solana or Coroban land.

  Ah, that’s why the king chose her. He really does see Mother as a problem child. Making her a duchess was punishment, not a reward. The fact that I hadn’t realized that until this conversation filled me with some amount of shame. I had been genuinely excited for her, and she chose not to correct me. I suppose she believed I’d figure it out.

  “You’re right. I think this is His Majesty’s way of getting back at Mother for causing trouble. I wish nobles had less bloody ways of resolving grudges and disputes…”

  She finished off the remnants of her salad and began vigorously slicing the main dish into small pieces. “How long will you be gone for?”

  I swallowed. “I don’t know. Hopefully just a few weeks.”

  She stopped cutting. “And?”

  “In the past, a Hunt once went on for approximately 3 months. But we have no reason to expect that in this case, so I don’t think you need to worry.”

  She was now visibly angry with me. “I don’t need to worry? About you off with a bunch of squires, hunting monsters in the snow? I don’t need to worry about that?”

  “That’s… not what I meant, Helian. I’m going to be very careful, and I’m not just bringing squires, we’re bringing proper knights from the order. We’re going to take this seriously. I already promised Rosa I wouldn’t pick up any strange relics or wander around in caves…”

  Oh, I shouldn’t have said that.

  “UGH!” Helian struck the table with her palm. “The least you could do is let me forget about that! Will you come back missing an arm this time? Or a leg, perhaps? And for that matter, why the hell did Rosa find out before I did? Her of all people? You just casually mentioned this to my lady-in-waiting before telling me and you heed her counsel?”

  Rosa’s little secret was becoming more of a pain in the neck with every day. “There’s a good reason for that, but I’m not allowed to tell you… if you ask her, she’ll explain.”

  Helian drove her knife two inches deep into the table and strode out of the dining room, slamming the door behind her.