Lily frowned as she watched him. She knew he wanted her to make some sort of mental leap with him but she couldn't work it out. An idea slithered through her mind...but that was ridiculous, wasn't it? She glanced at Kirin. He refused to help, just kept looking at her with a glint of something dangerous in his expression.
"Say it!" he said.
"Say what? I'm not thinking anything."
"You are. You're my smart wife, Lily. Say it!"
She took a breath. "All right. What if Piven is Valisar?"
Kirin clapped and grinned. He leaned over and kissed the the top of her head in his excitement. She returned his grin. "Clever, Lily. But more so, clever, clever Brennus and Iselda!"
"You've gone mad, you know that, don't you?"
"Well, I could be laughably wrong but history tells me that the Valisars have been a secretive lot down the ages. Freath once said that he'd never met a more furtive man than Brennus. What if the whole notion of Piven as an orphan was one enormous and elaborate lie to protect the second heir to the throne?"
Lily shook her head with wonder. "Who would know?"
Kirin looked equally awed. "No one, I don't think. Everyone who might know is probably now dead. Perhaps only Freath is still standing who was close enough to the royals to share some secrets but I truly believe Freath was honest with me."
"You can't be sure - "
"No, I can't. But the more I consider it, the more likely it seems that Brennus and Iselda masterminded a devious plan to give absolute protection to Piven at birth. Perhaps what they didn't count on was his illness. He was an invalid and that offered a mea sure of protection that Leo could never have enjoyed. Loethar liked the child, treated him as a pet."
"But the ruse obviously worked, then," Lily remarked.
"Spectacularly! Loethar didn't feel threatened by Piven; no one felt threatened by Piven. He was considered fondly by all - even our infamous enemy."
"All right, I'll go along with this. Let's say Piven did do this trammeling."
He nodded.
"Tell me how a youth who, according to Leo, has the mental capacity of an infant, can achieve what you're suggesting?"
Kirin's face clouded. "That is my stumbling block. There are only two possibilities. The first is that someone else is controlling Piven's actions."
She looked doubtful. "Another person showing him how to hack off someone's hand, eat the flesh and bond another man to him? I can't imagine it."
"Neither can I," Kirin agreed.
"So what's your other suggestion, although I suspect I can guess," she said disdainfully.
"Go ahead," he invited.
"You now want me to believe that somehow in the intervening years of his disappearance, Piven has overcome his disability and is now a rational, intelligent fifteen-anni-old youth, strong enough to overpower a man and do this terrible deed."
"That's about the sum of it," he admitted.
She nodded, saying nothing for a few moments and they rode in thoughtful silence. "Why would Piven want an aegis?" she finally asked, thinking aloud.
"That's what I've been trying to fathom. How does he know about one, how did he find one, why would he do this?"
"Did you come up with answers?"
He looked at her doubtfully. "Only suppositions, I'm afraid. It's illogical, but the only rationale I can put together is that Piven either inherently knows, or has always had the ability to absorb information and thus understands the legend of an aegis and had the capacity to trammel him."
Lily bit her lip in thought. "But, Kirin, why? Why would he do this?"
"Fear. If he understands the concept of the aegis, he understands his own vulnerability at Loethar's hands if his new sanity is discovered. He needs protection."
"But he was living in obscurity, obviously. Why would he come out into the open now?"
Kirin shrugged. He looked deeply perplexed. "I don't know. I really wish Clovis were alive to tell us what happened."
"So where are we going? We've come full circle. Why not back to the palace?"
"I now believe my cover no longer matters. I think Piven has nothing to fear anymore." He turned and regarded Lily.
She looked dumbstruck. "You are jesting, aren't you?"
He shook his head sadly. "Why not? He's unstoppable. Lily, perhaps you haven't grasped the magic I speak about. A whole army cannot penetrate the defenses of an aegis. If I'm right, Piven is now untouchable."
She looked at him, feeling her stomach sink. "Untouchable?"
"If he's decided to take the throne, not even Loethar's cunning or