I leaned back slightly, letting my hands settle on the table. Her tone was poised, her expression unshaken, but her eyes held something tightly locked behind the polished surface. I could feel it. I always could. Even when we were younger, Isabella had never been easy to read, but she was never impossible. Not to me.

I took a slow breath. “It’s a proposal,” I said. “Two things, actually. Reconciliation and an alliance.”

The shift was immediate.

She didn’t flinch, didn’t gasp, ...