base of the steps which led up to the room that housed the war table.
One of the honour guard stood there. Usually the stair was unguarded. It made her uneasy.
'Father sent for me,' she lied with a straight face. 'I think I'm in trouble.' That was true enough.
'Chin up.' He winked.
She felt a stab of guilt. All her life she had been teasing the honour guard with her tricks.
The soft soles of her good indoor slippers made almost no sound as she hurried up the steps to the next landing. Pausing to catch her breath, she crept to the door and strained to overhear her parents through the thick oak. Her heart beat uncomfortably fast.
Her mother spoke soothingly. But she could tell from her father's tone that he was furious. How was she going to explain her actions and warn him, without revealing her Affinity?
Hands grabbed her arm and covered her mouth, pulling her away from the door. She squirmed desperately as she was dragged away across the landing.
'Have you forgotten everything I taught you?' Fyn whispered.
In a flash she remembered and drove her elbow into his midriff. He grunted with pain, but did not release her, although his hand did slip from her mouth. 'Let me go. I want to know what's going on.'
'So do I, but if you make any more noise they'll hear you, as I did.'
She stopped struggling.
'Father is in a fury, Piro. Warlord Rejulas rode out of Rolenhold with his honour guard. The alliance is ruined. The other warlords are muttering amongst themselves, threatening to defy Rolencia. Father needs time to calm down,' Fyn warned softly. 'Come with me.'
He let her go and she spun to face him. 'Where to?'
Fyn signalled for silence, smiled and led her to another door. He held his finger to his lips again and she nodded impatiently. Then he opened the door to the twins' lesson room. She had never been inside, having resentfully stood at the door and wondered about the knowledge she, as a female, would never know.
Looking back now, she realised she probably had a broader and more useful education than the twins. Like them she had studied law and accounting, but her mother and Seela had also tutored her using books from Merofynia. Many were the times she had dressed up to play out roles from the history of both kingdoms.
The lesson chamber was not at all mysterious. It was cold and dim. The desks and chairs, abandoned five years ago when her brothers become men and outgrew their tutors, were covered in a thick layer of dust.
'I found this one day when Lence and Byren shut me in the cupboard,' Fyn whispered as he opened a door and stepped inside, beckoning her. Its shelves were full of inks, papers, old vellum scrolls and books. Fyn pulled some books off the shelf and pressed his ear to the wooden back of the cupboard. She did the same.
Now she could hear their voices quite clearly. She met Fyn's eyes, delighted.
'Enough of that,' her mother said. 'We must concentrate on mending this breach. We'll send someone after Rejulas to apologise and invite him to the spring cusp celebrations. Piro's been wild in the past but this is the last straw. It's time she grew up. She -'
'She spat out the food he gave her, acted like it was spoiled!' King Rolen said.
'Perhaps it was,' Byren suggested.
'It was not. I tasted it.' King Rolen roared. 'Then, when I asked her to pick up the Kingdoms pieces, she fled like an ulfr pack was after her. I sent Rejulas to bring her back, thinking he'd win her over, but she said something to him that made him march off.'
'It doesn't matter what little Piro said or did, Myrella's right,' Captain Temor said. 'One of the warlords sent hired killers after the kingsheir today. We can't hold the Jubilee celebrations without Unistag Spar renewing their loyalty, their absence would make Rolencia look weak. And we can't afford to lose Rejulas's support.'
A chair scraped on the boards as someone stood up. 'I'll go after him.' It was Lence.
Silence stretched and Piro could imagine them all exchanging glances.
'That could just work,' the queen said softly. 'Any warlord would be flattered to have the kingsheir apologise in person.'
'Take some of your father's honour guard,' Captain Temor said.
'No. I'll take my own,' Lence replied.
'You have them sworn already?' King Rolen asked stiffly.
'Seven, with more wanting to join. How many do you have, brother?'
'Not sure,' Byren