Alpheo was not, in truth, particularly surprised. In fact, if he were honest with himself, he had expected this moment to arrive sooner.
After all, he had made little real effort to hide the fruits of his medical reforms. Field hospitals set up near encampments, rows of soldiers that would come in these tents would come out and live,these were things that no whisper, however hushed, could keep entirely secret.
And besides, he had no intention of refusing. What would be the point?
Refusing would only serve to sour the warm relations his realm had carefully cultivated with Romelia, and Alpheo was no fool. If he said no, it would merely invite the Romelians to find another route—one he would be powerless to stop.
A careless bribe to one of his less-disciplined physicians, a whisper of gold and a ship bound north, and all the secrets of his healers would be laid bare anyway.
