[ yes, she is taking the measure of his habits. how many words has she used for it now? indolent, presumptuous, cavalier. ]

There are always more advisors.

[ there was no replacement for Dreus, not even her. but she has her own legacy now, her own scar upon the thoughts of the world. ]

You think you are more useful, and that you hold the strings of the world together through the reins of kings.

[ she tilts her head, a frigid smile on her mouth; girlish in her spite. ]

But you shrink away from placing your own neck beneath the blade.

[ she has been the whisperer pulling the strings. she learned it from watching other whisperers wrangling the tangled web of power and money in the courts. and now she was queen, and she knew better than trust an advisor's motives. ]