Marco stands on the other side. “The king requests your presence at dinner,” he says, giving me a sullen look. The feeling’s mutual.

“Request denied,” I say, closing the door.

Marco’s foot shoots out and catches the door before it can latch shut. “You can’t deny the king’s request.”

“Well, I am.” I give Marco’s foot a good kick. He yelps and pulls it back, and I slam the door shut.

“What was that about?” my dad asks when I return to the room.

“The king requested my presence at dinner.”

“And?” my father asks.

There’s loud knocking on the other side of the suite door.

“I politely declined.”

My father raises an eyebrow while the representatives watch from the other side of the screen. “Are you going to answer the door?” he asks.

“No.”

My father lets a small smile slip out, just enough to tell me that I’m humoring him.

The general clears his throat. “You should go to dinner with him.”

“Well, I don’t want to.”

“That’s not a good enough reason, Serenity,” the general says.

I lean in close to the screen. “You want me to use my womanly wiles to secure a favorable peace agreement? That’s exactly what I’m doing,” I say. “Let me do my job.” The truth is that I’m not trying to play hard to get—I don’t know the first thing about attraction. I simply can’t stand the thought of being close to the king right now.

The following morning I’m back in the conference room, sitting across from my father while we wait for the king.

The king pushes open the conference room doors. He holds onto two documents; one he drops in front of my father, the other he drops in front of me.

He leans in next to my ear. “I expect to see you in my room, tonight,” he whispers.

I stiffen, watching him as he takes a seat next to me. His leg brushes against mine, and I flinch from the contact. Across from me my father’s eyes move between the two of us.

“Here is a revised peace treaty that has been adjusted based on yesterday’s discussions,” the king says.

My father and I flip through the document, and I can’t help the way my hands shake, crinkling the paper. I already know what I’m going to find before I read it.

“Medical relief?” My father says, looking up from the document in front of him. His voice carries both confusion and hope.

“Serenity happens to be very persuasive,” the king says, glancing at me. My stomach clenches at his heated look. I try to tell myself that I’m merely nauseous at the thought of what’s coming tonight. But it’s more than just that. It’s that in some dark corner of my mind, the thought of being alone with the king excites me.

I close my eyes and breathe in and out. When I open them, my father’s gaze rests on mine for a moment. Just long enough for me to read the sheer panic in his own.

“You don’t have to do it, Serenity,” my father says. He’s sitting on a side chair in my room, his hands clasped so tightly together that his knuckles are a bluish white color. I’m flipping through the dresses I temporarily own.

“Dad,” I throw him a glance, “you and I both know that’s not an option.” There’s no telling what the king would do if I backed out after he’d held up his end.

My father scrubs his face and pushes himself out of the chair. “Come here,” he says, opening his arms.

I stop rifling through my clothes to look at him. His face is weary—old. And as he stands there with open arms, I realize that he might need my comfort more than I need his.

I walk into his embrace and he envelops me in a hug. He speaks into my hair. “I’m not okay with this.” His hold on me tightens. “I’ve been ordered—” My father’s voice catches. “I’ve been ordered to let this happen.”

“I know.” I’d assumed as much. The general is the mastermind behind this idiotic plan. It doesn’t matter how much my father disagrees with it, if General Kline ordered it, he’s duty bound to follow through. As am I.

He holds me for a long time, and I’m hesitant to pull away before he does. I’m afraid of what I’ll see on his face.

“You’ll never know how proud I am of you.”

I give a humorless laugh. “There’s nothing honorable about what I’m doing.”

My dad draws back to look at me. If he cried while he held me, all traces of his tears are gone. “Your life has never been easy, Serenity. The world has always demanded something from you—war is a series of hard choices—but you haven’t let it break you. Not even now, when this is being asked of you. No father could be prouder of his daughter.”

I blink back tears and swallow. “Thank you,” I say quietly.

This evening, when Marco knocks on our suite’s door, I’m armed for battle. I have a plan that will keep the monster at bay.

I open the door. “The king requests—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I say. “Let’s go.” I push past Marco. The guards won’t come with me tonight, not for this sort of thing.

Marco jogs up to me. “You’re going the wrong way Miss Freeman,” he says, catching my arm and spinning me around.

“Oh.” I let him lead me in the opposite direction, and I smooth down the fabric of the lacey plum colored dress I wear. For the millionth time I wish I was wearing my fatigues. The tight bodice and high heels limit my movement.