August was quiet a moment, listening to the soft clop of hooves on the only safe passage through the forest. He tried not to think of how comforting it was to feel Sam against him and unafraid, to have someone to confide in -- he felt relaxed for the first time in years. "Keep talking like that and I might start to think you cared." His smirk was small and fleeting -- and then he had an idea.

"The queen of Verinia." It dawned on him while he watched the princess Raquelle making sweet hollow smiles at Prince Liam. August laid his hand on Sam's arm for her attention, and he turned his head, brows furrowed. "Narissa is trying to start a war with Verinia -- her sister's kingdom -- there's got to be bad blood between them, right? If the Verinian queen were in on this plan, she would've kidnapped Dorothea herself and had an actual reason for war, instead of relying on [i]me[/i] to convince Liam to believe a lie. No, I don't think the queen of Verinia knows what Narissa's up to -- and [i]she[/i] sounds like a powerful ally, don't you think? Maybe as powerful as Narissa herself, if power runs in the family. She'll know Narissa better than I ever could -- maybe even the way to defeat her."

His grin turned a bit dangerous, but he remained guarded -- there was a chance this could backfire severely. "She has every reason to ignore whatever [i]I[/i] say -- but she might trust you. What do you think, Otherworlder?"