Blaming the surgeon had been foolish. Having him executed had been the act of a coward. But no one could know of this, except Chofya, whom he’d have to tell at some point. Kings weren’t sterile. Kings were powerful; they ruled men and led them to war. They passed their kingdoms on to their sons. Even in Eibithar, where the ascension of kings defied simple explanation, one principle remained clear: the eldest son of a king followed his father to the throne. To call a king sterile unmanned him. It invited challenge from his enemies, be they within the realm or on its borders.

He was fortunate to have the one daughter, the surgeon told him. She was a gift from Ean, one for which he and Chofya should have been thankful. But though Kalyi was his light and his music and his treasure, she was not enough. There hadn’t been a ruling queen in Aneira for more than two centuries, since Edrice the Second abdicated to her brother in order to avoid a civil war and assure her son of the throne. Carden would have been happy to see Kalyi rule the land, but the other houses wouldn’t stand for it. He needed a son. House Solkara needed an heir.

“There will be no heir,” the surgeon had told him. “If you want House Solkara to hold the crown, you’d best choose a successor from among your brothers’ children.”

He had three brothers. Two were jackals and one was a fool, and their sons gave little indication of amounting to more. His best hope-and Aneira’s-lay in the possibility that Kalyi would marry young and bear her husband a son. This ruled out a union with the son of another major house, any one of whom would expect to give his name to the child. She would have to marry within the Solkaran dukedom. A price to be sure, but a small one under the circumstances.

He drank, draining his goblet once more. How many times had he dreamed of raising a boy to be king, just as his father had raised him? What had he done to offend the god so?

“I’d gladly trade all I have for an heir,” he murmured.

“Your Majesty?”

The king looked up sharply and saw Pronjed, his archminister, standing in the doorway. He felt his face grow hot with shame.

“What do you want?” he demanded.

“I saw the duke had returned to his chambers, Your Majesty. I was curious to know what he wanted.”

He stepped into the hall, pulling the door closed behind him.

Carden shifted uneasily in his chair. He had no desire to speak with the white-hair right now, particularly about this.

“It was nothing of consequence,” he said. “He had concerns about the new fees.”

The Qirsi walked to the table and took an empty chair. “He came all this way to speak of lightering fees?”

The king felt his mouth twitch and wished he hadn’t drunk that last cup of wine. “After Chago, he was afraid to leave the matter to messages, lest their be any… misunderstandings.”

“I see.” The Qirsi eyed him for a moment. “Are you well, Your Majesty?”

“Of course I’m well,” Carden said, looking away. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“You seem uneasy. And I heard of the surgeon’s execution. You’re certain everything is all right?”

“It doesn’t matter,” the king said. He cast a dark glance at the minister. “It’s none of your concern.”

“Very well.”

They lapsed into a silence, the king watching Pronjed, whose pale yellow eyes flitted around the room like a sparrow, coming to rest at last on Orvinti’s crystal dagger.

“That’s a fine blade the duke brought,” he said.

“Yes, it is.”

“Pick it up.”

Before he knew what he had done, the king held the dagger in his hand.

“You’ve ordered the servants away for the night?”

He wanted to lie, or better yet, to call the servants back to the hall, but all he could do was nod. “Yes.”

“Good. Tell me what you and the duke discussed.”

“He wanted to talk about Chago,” the king said, unable to stop himself. “He wanted to know whether I had him killed, or if I thought it was the Qirsi.”

Carden struggled to his feet. He didn’t know what the minister was doing to him, but he had to get out of the hall.

“Sit down.”

He sat.

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing. Either way I look like a fool.”

Pronjed smiled, the shadows in the hall making his thin face look almost cadaverous. “True. Turn the blade around.”

He tried to fight the Qirsi’s will, but his hands seemed to belong to someone else, someone who now had a blade aimed at his heart.

“The surgeon said you’d have no heir, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“I thought as much. Does anyone else know?”

“Not yet.”

“Not even the queen?”

“No.” The king tore his eyes from the point of the blade to look at the minister. “Why are you doing this?”

“For my people, of course. For the Weaver.”

“But why does he want me…?” He licked his lips. “What have I done?”

“Nothing. But you have no heir, and so Aneira will suffer. And by having the surgeon killed today, you made it so easy.” Pronjed stood and stepped away from the table. “Do it.”

He tried to resist. Ean knew how hard he tried. But his hands were no longer his own. He strained to take control of his body, reaching for his hands with his mind, summoning all the strength he thought he possessed. But none of it was enough against the magic of his Qirsi. He could only watch, despairing and utterly helpless, as he plunged the dagger into his own chest.

Chapter Six

The duke had them up early the next morning, which dawned grey and cold, the air damp from a late-night rain. Fetnalla knew that Brail wished to be back in Orvinti for the celebration of Bohdan’s Night, the Night of Two Moons in Bohdan’s Turn, which was only five nights away. If they left that morning, they’d just make it, barring an early snow in the wood.

The duke had returned to his quarters shortly after she did the night before, offering a brief word of greeting to the guard standing by their rooms as he opened his door. The minister heard him from within her chamber and briefly considered going to speak with him. She still wondered why he had come to Solkara, though she had some idea, and she hoped that perhaps, having spoken with Carden, her duke would be ready to confide in her again. She had reached her door, and was resting her hand on the handle, when the memory of his harsh words on the road to the city stopped her.

Since the death of the duke of Bistari, she had noticed a rift forming between them, and with all that happened the day before, it had grown into a chasm. Astounded though she was by the speed with which their rapport had crumbled, she had no doubt as to the cause.

“I will not be spoken to that way,” he had said, “especially not by a Qirsi.”

Never before had he said such a thing to her or made her feel that the color of her eyes mattered to him beyond the powers it gave her to serve him. Certainly he had never given her the impression that he feared her.

Somehow, the murder in Bistari had made Brail suspicious of her, perhaps of all Qirsi.

In a sense, his refusal to answer her questions about this journey to see the king told her precisely why they had come. Her duke knew of the conspiracy, and while she hadn’t thought him bold enough to take such action, Fetnalla suspected that he had come to Solkara to ask the king directly if he had ordered Chago’s assassination. She would have given nearly anything to know Garden’s answer.

Unfortunately, the morning found Brail as withdrawn as he had been the previous day. Aside from instructing her to gather Orvinti’s soldiers in the castle courtyard and have the stable hands prepare the horses, he said nothing to her. He barely even looked her in the eye.

When all was ready for their departure, Brail led Fetnalla toward the king’s hall, intending to find Carden and Chofya, thank them for their hospitality, and bid them farewell. They were still in the courtyard, however, when the bells in the castle’s cloister abruptly began to toll, the sound echoing loudly among the stone walls. Almost immediately, the king’s guards swarmed into the courtyard, surrounding the men of Orvinti and demanding that they drop their swords.