Juliette noted King Archibald’s outburst with displease, though there was no external sign of the emotion.<em>An Aserit calling his enemies war criminals—hypocrisy at its finest!</em>Maybe her anger was not defensible either. She had never tolerated any of her own people targeting civilians, but she could not know for certain if other units in the Theiri military were as scrupulous. Still, Archibald had made it his policy to target predominately civilian trade caravans—maybe he considered Theirians sub-human, and the act of murdering her people to be beneath consideration.<br/><br/>When both the Nydewian and Aserit soldiers tensed in the face of Archibald’s outburst, Juli tensed as well—but she did not think either side would be foolish enough to start something without knowing for certain how the queen and the more numerous Theiri soldiers might react.<br/><br/><br/>The princess caught glimpses of Olivia as the meal continued, noting how she easily held the attention of all those around her.<em>Beautiful, intelligent, charismatic... she’s either the most impressive woman I’ve ever met, or the most dangerous. Or both.</em>Juli reminded herself not to lose control of her emotions, or to make assumptions based on her hopes. It was entirely possible—actually very likely—that Olivia was spoken for, or not interested in other women sexually. Still, the former soldier was feeling hurt and lonely after the days events, and realized she did not want to be alone tonight.<em>Well, if I make a pass at her, the worst thing that can happen is she’ll be completely disgusted with me.</em>That would be pretty humiliating, but she had dealt with harsh rejection before.