“Did Trae tell you about the dreadful thing that happened in town today?” Kermilla put her hands on her hips and looked stern. “You should tell Talon he has no business interfering with this town.You rule here.”

“Garth and Brok are forfeit, Kermilla. There is nothing anyone can do about that.”

“You have to do something! They’re mine, Theran. They’re—”

“Dead.”Hell’s fire. He hadn’t meant to be that blunt.

She paled. Pouring more brandy in the glass, he guided her to a chair. “Drink this.” He waited until she chugged the brandy. “I’m sorry, Kermilla, but Garth and Brok are dead. They were executed.”

She gasped for air, then wailed, “Why?”

He pulled up a footstool and sat in front of her. “They went to a landen’s house with the intention of raping the wife and daughter. That’s unforgivable, even here where we’ve forgotten so much of the Old Ways of the Blood.”

“They wouldn’t do that,” Kermilla protested.

She didn’t believe them capable of that obscenity. She hadn’t realized what kind of men they were when she’d claimed them. Thank the Darkness for that. “They did.”

Calling in a small, lace-edged handkerchief, she looked at him with big blue eyes and sniffled, turning an ordinary body sound into something feminine and delicate.

“What about Correne?” Kermilla asked. “I know she went off with you this morning, which is very naughty of you, Theran. She hasn’t had her Virgin Night yet. She shouldn’t go anywhere with a man without a chaperon.”

“I took her home,” Theran said quietly. “She’s back in her home village now.”

“Why?She was my only friend here. My only female friend,” she added hastily when he stiffened.

He took the glass from her and set it on the table next to the chair. Then he took her hands. “She wasn’t a friend to you, although she hid her intentions well.”

She jerked her hands out of his. “Whatever are you talking about? Of course she’s my friend.”

The headache was still there, gnawing inside his skull. So he spoke without softening the blow. “Because of her, you made enemies at dinner the other night.” He pulled back. He should have asked this question before. Hehad asked this question before. But not so bluntly that he would have to have an answer. “Maybe I’ve presumed too much from your staying here after Cassidy moved her court to Eyota. If I have, I apologize. I thought you were willing to become the Queen here next spring. I thought you had stayed to learn what the people here need from their Queen. I’ve been bringing influential people here to meet you so that they would support your intention to rule.”

“What influential people?” Kermilla snapped. “There are only a handful of aristo families in this town and I’m not allowed to go anywhere else.”

“Influential doesn’t always mean aristo,” Theran said, tightening the leash on his temper. “Ferall is an example. He’s a savage fighter, and he’s respected by other Warlord Princes and the surviving Queens because of it.”

“He wasn’t very nice at dinner.”

Kermilla stuck out her lower lip. The pout usually made him think of carnal things he’d like to do with her. Today, with his head pounding unmercifully, it just made her mouth look puffy and unattractive.

“You should have slapped Correne down when she made that remark about Cassidy.”

“Well, shewas called Lady Freckledy.”

“That doesn’t matter. She wasn’t the Queen of a Territory then. Ferall didn’t join Cassidy’s court and he may not serve her directly, but hewas insulted on her behalf. When you did nothing, you lost his support—and the support of the other three Warlord Princes who came with him. That means you lost the support of any of the Queens who pay attention to how Ferall reacts to people who might have great influence in our land.”

“Why should he be insulted? You just said he wasn’t hers.”

“You don’t know what it’s like to live under a bad Queen. I believe you would be a better Queen for Dena Nehele, but Cassidy has been making an effort to help the people, and the Queens and Warlord Princes are paying attention. They aren’t interested in parties and concerts, Kermilla. They’re interested in a harvest that will feed everyone through the winter.”

“You just don’t want to have any fun.”

“Fun is a luxury we can’t afford yet.” He took her hands again. “And there are some other things the people can’t afford yet. I got the bills from the merchants today.”

“Oh, Theran. You’re not going to grumble about that too.”

He released her hands and moved away from her, needing some distance. “I told the merchants I would pay what was on these bills and nothing more.”

She stared at him, clearly hurt and insulted.

“I’m sorry, Kermilla, but the shops you’ve been patronizing have fulfilled their tithes until next spring.All the tithes. Not just what would have come to me as income, but also what should have gone into the town’s treasury to pay the guards and maintain the basic necessities of the town itself.”

“Can’t you pay it?” she asked in a small voice.

“With what?” Thank the Darkness she didn’t know about the treasure Cassidy had found in the attics here. “I have enough money from my family to pay for the servants and start doing some repairs here.”

“But you livein a mansion. ”

“This spring was the first time I set foot in this house. My family hasn’t lived here for generations. Couldn’t live here because the Territory Queen had claimed it for herself.”

She looked around the room, as if casting about for something she could understand.

For a moment, he thought she was going to ask him to sell off some of the furnishings in order to pay for another damn dress. But she looked at him with a tiny frown. “Can’t you raise the tithes?”

“And give more people a reason to leave?” He raked his hand through his hair. “Have you paid any attention when we went driving around the town? Have you noticed all the empty houses and empty shops?”

“Yes.” Her frowned deepened. “Grayhaven is theimportant town. Why aren’t there more people living here?”

“Because they’re dead.”

Her eyes filled with tears. Her lower lip quivered.

He closed his eyes for a moment to regain control.

She’s young, inexperienced. She’s lived in a safe little village her whole life. Sweet Darkness, please let her understand this time.

“Half the Blood in Dena Nehele were destroyed by that witch storm that ripped through the Realms a couple of years ago. Then the landens rose up against us, and half of the survivors died. Do you understand, Kermilla? For every four Blood who were alive three years ago,only one of us is left. ”

She stared at him, her face wiped clean of all expression.

Returning to the footstool, he sat and faced her again. “I can’t give you what I don’t have. I think you can be a good Queen, but you’ve let a few questionable companions persuade you into making bad decisions. You’ve lost the respect of some powerful men because of it.”

“Theran, I’m truly sorry. I didn’t know how bad it’s been for all of you.”

Why not?he wondered.I’ve been telling you since the first time we took a drive around the town.

“I guess I didn’t understand that things would be so different here. That ruling would be so different here.”

Theran’s heart pounded. She sounded regretful, almost apologetic.

“I’ll do better,” Kermilla said in a subdued voice. “I promise.”

He kissed the back of her hand, then said with all the conviction he could put in his voice, “We can have a good life, Kermilla. It’s just going to take time and work.”

Nodding, she pulled away from him gently and left the room. She didn’t join them for dinner that night, which he didn’t think odd, but he did regret that her door remained locked to him when he tapped on it later that night.

And he tried not to think about the sounds he’d heard a moment before he knocked. Sounds an aural shield could have politely hidden if she hadn’t wanted anyone to hear.

Sounds that indicated she’d found consolation with someone else that night.

CHAPTER 22

TERREILLE

Standing in the doorway of the dining room, Dryden announced, “Princes Ferall, Rikoma, Elendill, and Hikaeda have arrived. I have put them in the visitors’ parlor.”

Ranon almost spit a mouthful of coffee across the table. “They’re herealready ?” When he’d suggested they come in the morning, he hadn’t expected the four men to arrivethis early.

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he pushed away from the table. “Thank you, Dryden. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“It will be fine, Ranon,” Powell said. He was the only other person left at the table.

“Will it?” Not knowing if Ferall now served Kermilla and was here as her eyes and ears made Ranon edgy. That uncertainty had gnawed at him ever since he’d agreed to this visit.

“They’ll see what they want to see. Show them the village. Show them the people. That’s all you can do. I’ll inform Maydra that we will have four guests for the midday meal.”

“Where is Cassie?” Ranon asked.

“I believe she went upstairs to change clothes.”

Ranon hurried to the visitors’ parlor. The four men hadn’t taken a seat. When he walked in they were doing a slow prowl around the room, looking a little baffled.

“Good morning,” he said.

Ferall nodded, as did Rikoma and Elendill. Hikaeda smiled and said, “Have we come to the right place, Ranon? When we arrived at the landing web and asked for the Queen’s residence, we were directed here.”