LUCY
I bite my tongue again, harder this time, resisting the urge to argue on pure reflex.
"It's the more sensible order," Alistair adds, as though sensing my resistance and preemptively arguing his own case. "You'll need time with Caspian regardless." A pause, his gaze settling on me directly. "Given the circumstances."
I nod, agreeing outwardly, while privately deciding that three days in the capital is the absolute maximum I intend to grant before insisting we move on to literally anywhere else in the four kingdoms.
"Your coronation will follow the tour's conclusion," Alastair says. "Both as Dragon Alpha and as sovereign of Virelan."
I agree to that as well, and catch—unmistakably, this time—a flash of relief crossing his face before he smooths it back into something more composed.
