war, surety for my father's honourable intentions?' She smiled through her tears. 'And look what came of us? Rolen and I have been happier than anyone thought possible.'
Until now, Piro thought. Her unspoken words hung in the air. She would burst into tears if she wasn't careful. 'I must go.'
Her mother released her and Seela gave her a quick hug. 'Take care, Piro. Your mother wants you to have these. Remember, a queen always carries her keys of office.'
Seela pressed a ring with a bundle of keys into her hands. The guard glanced swiftly at the heavy key ring but did not intervene since the key to their tower room had been removed.
'But these are yours.' Piro tried to give them back.
Her mother caught her hand and firmly closed her fingers over the keys. 'Until I am restored to the king's trust you must watch over him for me.'
Piro nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks. Her father was under the care of both the castle's healers, but Valens had done a great deal of damage. After consulting with Autumnwind the healers had not accused Valens of having Affinity, only of being misguided. Piro suspected they were protecting themselves and Autumnwind from the king's ire. They declared Valens guilty of using dangerous Ostronite techniques, which did more harm than good. The healers had become quite powerful in that they now said what the king could and could not do to restore his health.
Piro brushed tears from her eyes and headed down the stairs. She undid her belt, slipping the key ring through it. With each step she took she heard the chink of her mother's symbols of power and felt their weight, both literal and figurative.
It was still weighing on her mind when she went up the servants' stairs to the family wing.
'Piro Kingsdaughter?' a small, wizened servant asked.
'Yes?'
Someone grabbed her from behind, holding her against their body, lifting her off her feet.
'Cobalt!'
'How did you know?'
'I smelt you!' The scent of Ostronite myrrh clung to his skin.
Cobalt laughed. 'I'll hold her. See what you think.'
Cobalt's servant approached, his black eyes malicious and bright. She knew him from somewhere.
Piro's nostrils stung and her vision quivered as she slipped into Unseen sight. The servant pulsed with Affinity. Another renegade Power-worker. Clearly, Cobalt had no qualms about dealing with them. She tried to rear back but he held her firmly.
The Power-worker raised one hand, fingers spread. Behind the darkness in his eyes she saw the flash of a manticore tail lifting to strike.
Piro clenched her fists, brought both her arms forwards and drove the sharp point of her elbows back into each side of Cobalt's midriff. Air escaped him in a grunt of pain and his grasp slackened enough for her to duck under his arm. She sprang behind him and shoved, sending him staggering forwards to collide with the renegade Power-worker who cursed, knocked off his feet by the bigger man.
Then she was running up the stairs, running towards the solarium, but there was no protection there, so she changed direction, heading for her bedchamber. But before she got there she skidded to a halt as realisation hit her.
The Power-worker had cursed in Merofynian.
She'd claimed a Merofynian Power-worker was loose in the castle to save her mother, but it really was true!
The implications made her head spin. A door opened along the hallway. Before anyone could see her she darted down the passage, heading for the stairs. She had to warn her father. King Rolen was spending more and more time at the war table, as if staring at the map would tell him the true extent of the Merofynian army and its whereabouts.
Hand on her keys to stop them jingling, she slowed to a hasty walk in the passages where others could see her, and sped up in private.
'Kingsdaughter,' the guard at the bottom of the steps to the war table chamber acknowledged her. 'I don't -'
'I do!' She thrust past his half-hearted attempt to stop her. At least she knew Cobalt would not be with her father right now.
With a quick knock, she thrust the door to the war table chamber open.
The king sat on the far side, alone for once. Relief flooded her and she felt tears sting her eyes. 'Father?'
'Eh, Piro. What's the matter?' He stood up stiffly and opened his arms to her.
She headed around the table towards him. 'Cobalt's new servant is a Merofynian Power-worker!'
He drew back before she could reach him, shaking his head. 'Cobalt warned