Juli frowned slightly at San’s reaction. If anything, she had gone out of her way to explain why her refusal was not meant as a slight. The princess did things not appropriate to her station on a daily basis, but not in front of large gatherings of royals and nobles.<br/><br/>Upon witnessing the Aserit king striking Lenally, Juli was forced to immediately look away, so that he would not see the anger in her eyes. How could he strike that sweet girl? Juli fervently wished she could protect the Aserit princess—and then had to wonder why she felt so strongly. Was it a child or an attractive woman she wanted to jump to the rescue of? If Lenally were a couple years younger or a couple years older, it would have been easy to know. As it was, Juli found her very pretty, but too young to comfortably call sexy.<em>Well, I considered myself an adult at that age, maybe it’s hypocritical not to extend her the same courtesy.</em>