At the end of the engagement party, Lucia was surprised that her family was sleeping in the palace that night. It was not as if they were going to drive home, given the concern about drinking and driving. The king of Siambi and his wife were also staying in the palace. Lucia could not help but feel that this was related to her father and Rhodes. She was not wrong. But she did not know that. It was a good guess.
Ultimately, it did not matter what she did or did not know because the next morning, when the meeting took place, it was without her. Her sister, Adela, was there. The king of Siambi was not happy about that at first, citing that Dominique had now only his wife and his heir present, and one more person was far too much of an ambush for his liking.
Gustav had shut that down by saying that Adela was there solely as his wife. She was present not as the daughter of Prince Dominic Handhoff of Rhodes but as the future queen of Myia.