“Forgive me if I’m confused, Apprentice Alinata. I heard a rumor that you’d disgraced yourself and fallen out with the queen. And now you come out of nowhere to demand that I follow you out of the camp to meet someone unspecified. Am I a fool? Why should I trust you?” Alinata pauses, considering her strategy. A smart tongue is not what’s needed here. Clearly the truth is her best recourse, but too much of it too soon and she’ll lose him. Start with what he already knows. “General, surely you know by now that the queen played a part in your nephew’s death.”
