As ordered by Ronan, Nilsa entered the dining hall without a single scratch.

She hadn't taken even a small breath before a group of palace workers rushed her into a seat between Czarin and Ronan. It wasn't a mystery as to who had decided the seating arrangement when she found Gideon smirking at her from across the table.

"Well done, Nilsa," Gideon told her as soon as the food was served.

She nodded in thanks.

"Personally," Caspian spoke from the end of the table, "I thought that was utterly ridiculous!"

Nilsa tilted her head towards the god. Differing from the rest of his siblings, Caspian had a thick accent, as if he was a native of the western villages.

"Caspian recently returned from his long trip to the Western Isles," Czarin told her, loud enough for everyone else to hear too. Nilsa turned to her right where Czarin lazily twirled her fork. "Has refused to talk normally ever since."

Caspian gave the table a mischievous grin. "And why would I? Their culture is ever exciting, and their women even more."

Thorin rolled his eyes.

"You know, they have these houses along the coasts where the wildest parties live everlasting through day and night. I would love nothing more than for you, Thorin, to build me some for my birthday."

"And why would I do that?"
"Because," Caspian sang, "if you're nice to me, I might let you enter them every now and then."

"I'm afraid, dear brother," Czarin said, "that Thorin being nice to you is the ultimate deal breaker."

Caspian gasped dramatically. "Why would that be?" he asked, the accent dropping. "I'm obviously Thorin's favorite. Just because you said that, I'm revoking your access to my party houses."

"I'm not making you a party house," Thorin stated bluntly.

Caspian's jaw dropped. "I'm revoking yours too!"

Nilsa didn't know why she was surprised to hear Ronan chuckle from beside her.

Gideon interrupted the bickering that came from Caspian's request. "Caspian." The table went quiet. "Why would you say today's events were ridiculous?"
Caspian shifted in his chair, smiling at the attention aimed at him. "Well, Gideon, your potion is where it all went wrong."

"Is it?"

"Indeed. It blinded me from making a truly wise decision."

"I'm not sure the potion is what is wrong with your decision-making skills," Alaeca mumbled, sipping her wine.

Caspian ignored the comment. "If I was in a right state of mind then I definitely wouldn't have chosen her."

"Who would you have chosen then?" Ronan asked, failing to hide his amusement behind playful eyes that had different intentions than having Caspian rant about the game's flaws.

Caspian hummed, resting his chin on his fist. "Definitely some elder. Sure, they'd move slower, but nobody would want to hurt an old lady, would they?" He paused. "Well, maybe except for Chryseis."

Chryseis replied to Caspian's words with a smile that would have sent most men running, in which Caspian grinned back goofilly.

"That would be a horrible idea!" Alaeca told him. "Age is just a number in the face of war."

"And what do you know?" Caspian questioned. "If I recall, your choice was the first one out!"

Nilsa wanted to curse Caspian, because as soon as the words were spoken, the attention of the table was turned towards her. Caspian simply crossed his legs and beamed in triumph.

Chryseis pointed a slim finger at Nilsa. "You surprised us, prophet. I bet many people lost a good fortune today when they lost their bets. And I bet you made one man very rich too." It was an insult hidden in the form of a compliment. That seemed to be how things worked around the palace.

"Had a good choice in allies too," Czarin spoke from beside her. "It seems that's where things went wrong with yours." Phillip mentioned Chryseis' choice being allies with the two, but it didn't seem that way when her and Phillip arrived.

Chryseis scowled, her silver eyes glaring at Nilsa for a comment she hadn't even made. Nilsa shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

"Running worked in your favor," Rieka said. She'd been so silent Nilsa hadn't noticed her next to Thorin. "Remind me, how many times did someone have to get the job done for you?"

The table went silent, but Nilsa gave nothing to fuel the fire.

Rieka shrugged. "The number escaped me too."

"I thought your chosen one was supposed to be wise," Ronan replied for her. "Anyone else would have noticed the dagger in her hand. Foolish mistake, wasn't it?" When Rieka clenched her jaw Ronan gave her a look of what seemed to be a warning.

Caspian whistled and chuckled. Nilsa wondered why they thought they needed humans to fight in their games. A dinner with them was entertaining enough.

"I just expected more of a fight to be put up," Rieka responded. "I would have thought the winner would be an exemplary fighter."

"The effort matched the reward," Nilsa remarked.

Rieka raised an eyebrow. "The entire continent's attention isn't enough for you?"

Nilsa took a sip of her wine. "I was thinking of a muffin basket."

Caspian guffawed. "I like this one!"
Nilsa met Gideon's grinning face. He seemed to agree.

Rieka made conversation with Thorin and the rest of the table followed when they realized the discussion was over.

Nilsa made work at her dinner, not having such a great meal in a long while, if ever.

"You seem to be in your best spirits," Ronan told her.

"I didn't register that this dinner was to insult me."

"It's not."
"Really? Because it seems that way."

"They're agitated that they didn't win."

"No," she corrected. "They're agitated that I did. If anybody else had won it would have been different."

"You won fair and square."

She didn't want to say what everyone else was thinking. Her win wasn't because of her faultless skills. It was because of Phillip and her random discovery of Ronan's powers. "You shouldn't have picked me," she said instead.

"Why not?"

"You know why."
"I'm afraid you're going to have to remind me."

She sighed and paused her eating to look him in the eyes. "I won because of luck."

"Luck would insinuate that an outside force was involved, and I can assure you my siblings and I were on our best behavior."

Nilsa rolled her eyes. "You should have picked an experienced fighter from a nearby village who has been dying to meet you and would have used every bit of their energy to win that competition for you."

"They wouldn't have won. You did."

Nilsa didn't try to push farther and continued her eating.

"Why won't you admit you did amazingly well? Would anybody else have been able to defeat that dragon?"

"No," she answered, "because anybody else would have finished the fight before the girl turned into that horrid beast."

"I largely doubt that."

"I don't need you to. It's over."

"Not for all the little girls around the palace who are going to explode with joy when they see their new hero walking by them in the hallways."

"You let children watch that?"

"We let everyone watch."

She couldn't help but cringe. No child needed to see a man get struck clean through the chest with a spear, or someone get pelted with arrows. That was the last thing she wanted to be remembered for.

"You seem surprised you won. Was Citali of any help during the game?"

Nilsa scowled. "The last I heard from her was before it started. Your powers must've blocked her."

Ronan only laughed. "My powers blocking one of the greatest Archai? Must be something else because not even my father can block an Archai."

Nilsa couldn't think of anything else that would stop Citali from speaking to her, but the Archai was petty and liked to play with Nilsa. Perhaps that was what it was, and Nilsa just needed to figure out whatever Citali was hinting at.

"Not everybody was rooting against you, you know."

Nilsa raised a brow. "This again?"

"Somebody needs to make sure you realize your potential."

"Potential for what?"

Another grin that told her he knew something she didn't.

"I am not here for your siblings' games, Ronan. If I had my way, I wouldn't have gone to the one this morning. I am here for work."

"Not a day off?"

"Not one." With that, neither of them said another word for the rest of the dinner, and luckily, save for a few glares from Rieka, Nilsa was completely forgotten from the table. She prefered it that way.