The Marshal Is My Mate novel · Chapter 11 of 24
Chapter 11: The Empress's Table
The Empress's table seated forty, and every one of them looked at Lucan.
She sat at the head in plain gray silk, an old woman with sharp eyes and no jewels.
Garrick held Lucan's chair and then took the one beside it.
The seat to the right of the Marshal was always empty at court dinners. Tonight it had a place card in Lucan's name.
"Marshal," the Empress said. "You look rested."
"I am, Majesty."
"I have not seen you rested in nine years. I find I'm curious." She turned her pale eyes on Lucan. "Duke Merrow. How do you do it?"
"I sit still, Majesty," Lucan said. "It's all I've done."
A ripple of polite laughter went around the table.
It broke off when a woman halfway down the left side spoke.
She was in violet, with rings on every finger.
"I think we all know what a C-rank Drone is for, Majesty," she said, in a clear, sweet voice. "He's a very good medicine. The Marshal was only ever short of one."
The whole table went silent.
Lucan's face went hot.
He put his hands under the table and found his knuckles white.
Garrick set down his fork.
"Madam," he said.
The woman in violet smiled, pleased to be noticed.
"If my husband is a medicine," Garrick said, "then I'm the patient. And you've just said to the Empress's table that the Marshal of the Empire needed a cure."
The woman's smile faded.
"I only meant..."
"I know what you meant. You meant he was worth less than I am." Garrick's voice never rose. "He sits at my right hand. If any person here wishes to say it again, they may say it to me, in the yard, at dawn."
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