“It’s not like you to run away from a fight,” Regis said. “If things are as bad as you say, we need all the sane men we have. Ineed you—your experience, your strength. Since Rinaldo has taken Danilo, would you consider acting as my paxman?”

A series of emotions passed over Gabriel’s features. He turned away. “I have no desire to abandon everything the Comyn have stood for, the old ways of respect and decency, but I have my family to protect.”

“As do I.” Regis grasped Gabriel’s shoulder. “My brother is my family, too. Rinaldo is easily led astray by others, but he still listens to me. I can reason with him. We’ll sort this out. Meanwhile, I need a strong man to guard my back, someone I can trust—”

Suddenly the door flew open. Javanne rushed into the room. She wore a gown that had once been green but had faded to gray, covered by a dust-streaked apron. Her hair was tucked beneath a pleated cap. The muscles around her eyes seemed too tight.

“There you are! I heard—” She swung from Regis to confront her husband. “Regis is here and you didn’t send word to me!”

“I came directly from speaking with Rinaldo, and he has agreed to release the children,” Regis broke in.

“Just like that?” Javanne demanded. “When will this miraculous event take place?”

“You doubt my word?”

“Not at all. But I have more than enough reason to doubt Rinaldo’s.”

“Regis, do you know where they are?” Gabriel said. “Somewhere in the Castle? One of those temples? A hovel in the city, one of those areas no sane man walks unarmed? Spirited away to Nevarsin?”

“They could be anywhere!” Javanne threw herself at Regis, hands raised as if she would tear his eyes out. “If it had been Mikhail, your precious Heir, instead of my daughter, you would have saved him! Why are you doing this to me? I hate you! I hate both of you!”

Gabriel caught Javanne in his arms, holding her with surprising gentleness. “Hush, love, you don’t mean that.”

“It’s not fair!” She allowed herself to be led to the divan, where she collapsed, burying her face in her hands. “She is lost, lost! And all you men do is talk! What good is that to my sweet girl?”

Javanne spoke truly. What was Rinaldo’s agreement but empty words?

Regis knelt, but she would not look at him. “ Breda,I swear to you, I will restore your daughter. She is my kin as well.”

“I wish you’d left Rinaldo at Nevarsin!” Javanne wavered on the edge of hysterical tears. “I wish he’d never been born!”

Gabriel rested his hands comfortingly on his wife’s shoulders and said to Regis, “Or that you never had the notion to hand so much power over to someone not trained to handle it.”

“Trained?” Regis shot back. “As Grandfather trained me? I would not wish that on my dearest enemy, let alone my only brother.”

“Who has run amok—”

“Yes, but under the influence of men like Valdir Ridenow!” Regis said. “I admit I failed to prepare him. What else should I have done? Become king myself? That’s absurd!”

“As absurd as Rinaldo doing the same, with far less ability or rightful claim?” Gabriel rumbled. “Gods, Regis! When good men fail to do their duty, tyrants step into the breach. You failed all of us, and now it’s our children who suffer.”

“I told you. I handled that,” Regis protested.

Gabriel stared at him. “I’ll believe it when Ariel is home again.”

Regis repeated, “Rinaldo gave me his word.”

Javanne lifted her tear-streaked face. Her voice, although hoarse, was steady. “And what is that worth without honor?”

“Regis,” Gabriel said, his voice now shading into weariness, “I have always thought well of you. I know you’ve faced down things I can’t imagine. If you can restrain that tyrant of a brother who dares to warm the throne with his backside, so much the better. But you place too much faith in Rinaldo’s willingness to be guided. You think he is without ambition? That is your own modesty speaking. Open your eyes and see what he really is.”

“Grandfather was right: You have never taken this business of governing seriously.” Javanne’s voice regained its former edge. “As a member of the Comyn, you have a responsibility to our people. But it’s not my business to lecture you on your duties.”

“Please do not do so,” Regis said tightly. “Grandfather did nothing else for most of my life.”

“But never in a way that you heeded!” she cried.

“I have done what I can! I am not a god, no matter what the legends say.”

“No,” Gabriel said quietly, “but you are a Hastur lord, which is close enough for most people. Take care to watch your back.”

“That,” Regis said with a meaningful look, “is why I need you.” Gabriel sighed, and for a moment, Regis felt sympathy for the older man’s position. With a wife as sharp-tongued as Javanne, and Javanne at her distraught worst, the decision could not be an easy one.

“You have my voice and my sword,” Gabriel said. “I will not make any formal vows—” meaning those of a paxman, “—but I will help you as best I can.”

Regis reached out to clasp Gabriel’s forearms, a soldierly embrace. Javanne leaned forward to kiss Regis on the cheek. Although she held herself with composure, her body felt as brittle as eggshells.

Regis halted beneath an arched doorway. Before him, a narrow stairway led into shadows, and a corridor angled away to the left. He did not recognize the passageway. What a fine situation for a grown man, Comyn and Hastur, to become lost in his own Castle!

He sat down on the lowest stair and considered what he must do next. His thoughts vacillated between optimism and self-doubt. He tried to cheer himself up, reassuring himself that the fears of his sister and brother-in-law were misplaced. He was making progress with Rinaldo. Soon he would be able to bring Kierestelli home, and all would be well.

All would be well.How many times had he thought that and been wrong?

Gabriel was right, Rinaldo’s excesses were the responsibility of the man who put him into power. It was up to Regis to deal with the results.

Desperately, Regis missed the friendship of men of his own caste. Lew Alton was off-world, along with his only child, Gabriel had turned distant, almost hostile, and Dyan Ardais was dead. Some things he could not say to Linnea, and Danilo . . .

Regis had become accustomed to the aching emptiness in his life. Danilo did not always agree with him, but his advice and the inexpressible comfort of his support had always been there.

He glanced up and knew where he was. All his temporizing and self-justification fell away. He and none other had put Rinaldo into a position of unbridled power. He had closed his eyes to Rinaldo’s obsessions. He had lulled his own conscience with false reassurances. Why should Rinaldo heed anything he, Regis, said?

More than that, he had left his sister’s child and the children of others in the clutches of unscrupulous men while he spirited his own daughter to safety. For too long, he had delayed and made excuses for Rinaldo. He must rescue the children himself.

Only a few moments ago, he had been alone in the endlessly twisting Castle corridors. Now he emerged into the more populated public areas. At every corner, he encountered more courtiers. Some—an Eldrin cousin here, a Castamir or MacNoire there—he knew slightly, but none well enough to trust. All of them wanted some favor, some influence with the king.

Regis strode through the knots of sycophants, ignoring their greetings, and out the Castle gates. As Gabriel had pointed out, the children could be anywhere in the city. Barring interrogating every Guardsman loyal to Rinaldo, there was only one way to find them.

He needed Linnea’s help.