War, Kaia quickly learned, did not begin with the clash of swords. It began with the absence of sugar.
Seven days after the Northern Vanguard sealed the land-bridge to the Southern Isles, the Imperial Palace of Arindale began to feel the chokehold of its own embargo. By severing the grain supply to Valerius, Kaia and Aeron had also effectively severed the flow of Southern imports into the capital.
There was no Southern silk. There were no imported spices. And, most devastatingly to the delicate sensibilities of the Arindale ton, there was no refined cane sugar for their afternoon tea.
"It is barbaric," Victoria Taryn declared, staring into her teacup with an expression of profound suffering. "I am drinking essentially hot, bitter water. We are living like peasants."
The Sun Parlor was filled with the collective, miserable sighs of the Ladies of the High Council. They were gathered for their daily gossip, but the atmosphere was closer to a funeral wake.
