“He’s been gone for a while. Are you sure we’re supposed to wait?”

Meret heard Xavier ask. She didn’t need to look up from her bloodied hands to know he was talking to Lisa.

“I don’t know how things are done where you come from,” Lisa replied quietly, “but when a king summons you, you wait—even if it takes him the entire day to call you in.”

Xavier sighed. “But Bruce is already in there. Can’t he just pass the information to us later?”

“It would be wise for him to ...