position as lieutenant to a prince he admired. Cassius Laird.”
Reginald’s heart lurched as he whispered, “Milady.”
“So of course, although he was still quite young, he had just finished his training and was proudly an endorsed soldier. Thus, when the prince called for his most loyal to fight the just fight, Moran was one of the first to volunteer. Thus, he was there,” she continued.
Reginald had nothing to say.
She had one hand in her lap, one hand close to her cup of tea.
The hand by the tea flipped out as she said, “And he was behind it, you see.”
Yes, the dead king was behind a great many terrible things.
Including that.
“I see,” Reginald replied.
“Coram had lost enough at his hands. I am an Airenzian woman, and you know, Master Reginald, we are made of rather stern stuff. We are this, for we are born to lose. I was born in this land knowing I would have nothing but what a man allowed me to have, and I would give everything a man chose to take. But Coram?” she shook her head. “He had already suffered at the king’s hand. His losing Moran, well, really…it could not be abided.”
“I understand,” Reginald said, and he did.
However, as it was his duty, he was forced to continue.
“I don’t suppose you’ll share with me who assisted you in gaining entry to the Bailey and access to the man who once was king.”
“You are right,” she replied. “I will not share that with you.”
“This will mean a full inquiry of all my guards and all others who are employed here,” he informed her.
“Yes,” she said, and the next she spoke with all sincerity. “And please accept my apologies for the time it will take you to do that. However, I feel safe in the knowledge they will not be discovered, but if they are, I request that you deal with them with a kind heart. They wished nothing but to right a wrong, and I’m afraid I was rather clever in disguising how a wrong would be committed in order to do that.”
She then spoke no more.
So be it.
He nodded and said, “I will petition the king to do his best to make you comfortable again in your stay with us, as I suspect it will be rather long.”
She nodded in return, took up her tea, and sipped a dainty sip.
However, her hand was slightly shaking.
“It is good to know,” he started gently as she set her cup back in its saucer and her gaze came to his, “that love does not die.”
Her nostrils flared before she looked away.
Reginald stood and turned his attention to the guard in the room.
“Find her a clean, warm gown, bag the one she wears, and then escort her to her previous quarters,” he commanded.
“Yes, sir,” the guard said.
“Milady,” he murmured to her.
“Master Reginald,” she murmured back.
With that, Reginald exited the room.
King True
Guest Bedchamber, Sky Citadel, Sky Bay
AIREN
“Darling, look at me,” True demanded.
Farah, concerning herself greatly with the clasp of his mantle at the base of his throat, lifted her gaze and looked into his eyes.
“It is soon to be done,” he said.
“What if there’s some trick?” she asked.
“Then it would be a foolhardy trick,” he answered.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean more lives won’t be lost.”
He took her chin against the crook of his finger and his thumb.
“This will be done,” he stated firmly. “And then we will seek and dispatch the Beast. After that, we will return home, be coronated, and then set about the arduous work of making a family.”
Her lips quirked.
He fully grinned and asked, “Can I take that as indication you are at one with my plan?”
“Can I request a single amendment? That we go about the practicing of the making of a family for, oh, say, six or seven months before we actually get busy with the work of doing it?”
His grin widened. “I can grant that amendment.”
She smiled up at him.
He bent his head and kissed it on her lips.
When he lifted away, he said, “Today will be a New Airen.”
“Praise the gods.”
He touched his mouth to hers again, took his fingers from her chin only to stroke her cheek, and then he left her in their chamber.
Teddy
Sheep’s Head Inn, Gulliver, A Town Seventy-Five Miles from the Firenz Border
WODELL
Teddy was interrupted in what he was doing when the noises came through the wall.
He was certain to close his lips tight at the tip and keep his hold about the base strong as he released his mouth