It took every single ounce of self control in her body to keep Kiara from laughing at the though to him trying to keep her prisoner. It was true, that he could certainly lock her up and put guards on her, but Hugo obviously did not know all of the skills she possessed, particularly her ability to escape most any cage. He was also forgetting that while Ostus may very well hate her at the moment, he was sworn to protect not only her country, but her as well. Kiara wasn't alone in that sense, though she might have seemed it.
What was even more amusing, though, was that he thought he could force her into acting a certain way. Not even her own mother could do that. Perhaps if Kiara had been scared of the King, it would be different, but she wasn't. Instead, the thought of him as a kind of bully, and there was no way she would bow to his whims. Soon she would rule. He would do well to remember that. Besides, there was the fact that Astora still existed and she was still it's princess. How could he justify not changing the Berinike way and then turn around and ask her to change? If she were to let go of her Astoran heritage, what would that say to her people?
Nope. Kiara would not be changing for this King or any other. She had no intention of turning Berinike into Astora, and so she would not allow him to change her or her country. It was a matter of principle. As she told Lamont earlier, the two countries needed to accept each other, not continually try to force the other to act the same way.
And then there was the very true fact that she was much more prepared to rule a country (or in this case two) than Lamont. Kiara suspected this was because he had grown up with many older brothers who were obviously higher in line than him. He hadn't really been expected to take the throne until all his brothers were dead, and he was a bit too old to properly prepare. Kiara, on the other hand, was an only child. She was the sole heir, and had been taught to rule her entire life, though she blundered through most of her lessons. The difference between Lamont and her was more simple than that, however. She had known since the moment she'd been born that she would rule her country. Lamont had only known the moment his last brother lost his life.
When Alexis spoke, Kiara turned her eyes from the King's retreating figure, a bit surprised. It was probably the very first thing that the Queen had said that did not have some underlining malice, though her tone was still haughty as she spoke.
Her head tilted, and her voice spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Because I don't judge him for his choices. I simply told him that I was worried for his safety and wished he would learn to defend himself sufficiently. He agreed to try to train with my guard." The last part wasn't exactly true. He had agreed to it, but that was before he had heard Kiara's description of Ostus. Either way, he'd agreed to train with someone.