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stunned. What was he trying to say? That I’d been stealing from my people?
    “Fifteen percent of your aunt’s tributes every month? Two wagonloads of coins and treasure as reparations are even now making their way into Neris.”
    “Those wagons of gold are meant to pay to fix all the damage my aunt’s army did. To rebuild Neris after they destroyed it.”
    “And the increase in our people’s taxes?” Winston asked.
    “I didn’t have a choice in that, either,” I protested. “We needed that money to keep the army fed. To keep supplies going to the White Mountains while we were laying siege at Bathune’s border.”
    “And now that the siege has lifted?” he asked. “Now that we’ve signed a peace treaty and the army is no longer necessary? Will you cut the taxes back down?”
    “You really think the army isn’t necessary?” I asked. “Really? You think we’re completely threat-free just because my aunt decided to come here and beg for forgiveness?”
    “I think that you’re so busy preparing for war that you’re becoming the very ruler you fought so hard against.”
    “What?” I snapped, stunned. “I’m nothing like my aunt. Or the Fate Maker.”
    “What you did to her was cruel, Allie. Humiliating her that way in front of all the nobles. You bullied her just like Heidi and Jesse used to bully you.”
    “That was different.”
    “How?”
    “She deserved it. She brought an army into our country and tried to take my throne. She killed our friends. Or did you forget about how Heidi and Jesse died in that forest?”
    “The Fate Maker killed our friends,” Winston said. “And you banished him for it.”
    “She helped him.”
    “And you humiliated her. What do you think happens now?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You embarrassed her in front of all those people. Do you think she’s just going to accept that? Or do you think she’s going to go home and let that fester like some kind of open wound? Sit there and think about it for months, getting angrier every single day until she decides that she’s got to have revenge.”
    “And then what?” I asked. “You think she’s going to try to march across the border again? After we’ve already beaten her?”
    “I think you humiliated her enough that she might be willing to take her chances.”
    “Whatever,” I said with a turn to look out my own window.
    What made him think he had the right to question my decisions? I was supposed to be the queen—the one in charge. They’d left me here in Neris, abandoned me, to lay siege to the border of Bathune. Winston and Rhys and my father had left me here alone to make decisions, to be queen, and now that they were back, they wanted to second-guess everything I did. It wasn’t fair. They’d left me with no one to lean on. They didn’t have the right to come back and complain because they didn’t like the decisions later.
    Besides that, Winston was my Prince Consort—the guy who was supposed to have my back. And even if I had gone a little too far, been a little too harsh with my terms on the peace treaty, it was because I was trying to keep him safe. I was trying to keep him alive the only way I could.
    The carriage began to make its descent, and neither of us said anything as it bumped to the ground, the bottom of the carriage scraping against the stones that acted as its resting place in front of the Hall of the Pleiades.
    “Her Majesty,” I heard a loud male voice announce. “The Golden Rose of Nerissette. Queen Alicia Wilhemina the First. Long may she reign.”
    “Long live the queen,” the crowd roared as the doors to my carriage opened, and I stepped out of the carriage. When I landed on the platform, the people began to cheer louder, and I lifted my hand, waving at my subjects.
    “Your Majesty?” The red-coated soldier at the bottom of the stairs held out a hand, palm down, and I put my hand on top of his, letting him help me down the stairs. I heard Winston get out of the carriage