The heavy wooden doors were kicked open. Samuel burst into the room, followed by four exhausted, terrified servants who were struggling to carry massive, overflowing piles of the most obnoxious, violently colorful silk robes Heena had ever seen in her life.
"Wife, you have to help me!" Samuel whined loudly, his voice echoing across the courtyard for all the hidden spies to hear. He bounded over to her, holding up a bright, gaudy neon-green tunic and a blindingly yellow sash.
"Which one of these makes me look more romantic for the banquet?!" Samuel complained, pouting dramatically as he draped the neon green silk over his shoulder. "I want the Emperor to look at me and think, 'Ah, what a beautiful, devastatingly handsome husband the Vanguard Madam has!'"
Heena stared at him, her eye twitching. The sheer audacity of his acting was almost too much to bear this early in the morning.
"Get out," Heena commanded, glaring at the servants. "Leave the clothes and get out of my sight."
