"The queen of Galea. Your bride to be. I envy her."

He turned away from her as she sat lightly at the edge of her chair. Richard pulled a deep breath, trying to clear his swimming head, and went around the table to sink into his own chair.

"Duchess, I was so sorry to hear of your husband's death."

She averted her eyes. "Thank you, Lord Rahl, but don't be troubled for me; I have little grief for the man. Don't misunderstand me, I didn't wish him harm, but…"

Richard's blood heated. "Did he hurt you?"

When she glanced away with a self-conscious shrug, Richard had to forcibly resist the urge to take her in his arms and comfort her. "The duke had a vile temper." Her graceful fingers stroked the sleek fur at the edge of her ermine robe. "But it wasn't as bad as it must sound. I rarely had to face him; he was away most of the time, in one bed or another."

Richard's mouth dropped opened. "He would forsake you to be with other women?" Her reluctant nod confirmed it was so.

"It was an arranged marriage," she explained. "Though he was of noble blood, for him it was a move up in station. He gained his title by marriage to mine."

"What did you gain?"

The ringlets of curls at the sides of her face swayed across her cheekbones as she glanced up. "My father gained a ruthless son-in-law to run the family holdings, and at the same time he rid himself of a useless daughter."

Richard came halfway out of his chair. "Don't say such a thing about yourself. If I had known, I would have seen that the duke had a lesson…" He sank back down. "Forgive my presumption, Duchess."

Her tongue leisurely wet the corners of her mouth. "Had I known you, when he struck me, perhaps I would have been bold enough to have sought your protection."

Struck her? Richard ached to have been there, to have been able to do something about it.

"Why didn't you leave him? Why would you endure it?"

Her gaze sought the low fire in the hearth. "I couldn't. I'm the daughter of the queen's brother. Divorce in such high ranks is not permitted." She suddenly blushed with a self-conscious smile. "But listen to me ramble on about my petty problems. Forgive me, Lord Rahl. Others have a great deal more trouble in their lives than an unfaithful husband with a ready hand. I'm not an unhappy woman. I have responsibilities to my people that keep me occupied."

She lifted a slender finger, pointing. "Could I have just a sip of tea? My throat is dry from worry thinking you. ." The blush revisited her cheeks. "Thinking you would chop off my head for coming to you against your orders."

Richard shot to his feet. "I'll get you some tea that's hot."

"No, please, I don't want to inconvenience you. And just a sip is all I need, really."

Richard snatched up the mug and offered it to her.

He watched her lips mold around the rim. He glanced to the tray, striving to put his mind back to business. "What is it you wished to see me about. Duchess?"

After she had taken a sip, she set the mug down, turning the handle back around before him the way it had been. There was a hint of a red print from her lips left on the rim. "Those responsibilities I spoke of. You see, the queen was on her deathbed when Prince Fyren was killed, and died herself soon after. The prince, though he had uncounted bastard offspring, was not married and so had no issue of standing."

Richard had never seen eyes of such a soft brown. "I'm not an expert on matters of royalty, Duchess. I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Well, what I'm trying to say is that with the queen and her only descendant dead, Kelton is without a monarch. Being the next in the line of succession — the daughter of the queen's deceased brother — I will succeed to queen of Kelton. There is no one I need turn to, to seek direction in the matter of our surrender."

Richard struggled to keep his mind on her words and not her lips. "You mean that you have the power to surrender Kelton?"

She nodded. "Yes, Your Eminence."

He felt his ears redden at the title she had given him. He picked up the mug, seeking to hide as much of his coloring face as possible. Richard realized he had put his lips where hers had been when he tasted the piquant print left on the rim. He let the mug linger as he felt the smooth honey-sweet warmth slide across his tongue. With a shaking hand, he set the mug on the silver tray.

Richard rubbed his sweaty palms on his knees. "Duchess, you heard what I had to say. We fight for freedom. If you surrender to us, you will not be losing something, but gaining. Under our rule, for example, it will be a crime for a man to harm his wife, the same as it would be were he to harm a stranger on the street."

Her smile had a hint of merry scolding to it. "Lord Rahl, I'm not sure even you will ever have enough power to proclaim such to be law. In some places in the Midlands it is only a token fine for a man to kill his wife should she provoke him with any of a list of misdeeds. Freedom would only give men everywhere the same license."

Richard ran a finger around the rim of his mug. "Harming an innocent, whoever they be, is wrong. Freedom is not a sanction for wrongdoing. People in some lands shouldn't have to suffer acts that in a neighboring land are a crime. When we are united, there will be no such injustices. All people will have the same freedoms, and the same responsibilities, to live by a just law."

"But surely you cannot expect that by proclaiming such tolerated customs outlawed, they will stop."

"Morality comes from the top, such as parent to child. The first step, then, is to set down just laws and show that all of us must live by its maxims. You can never stop all wrongdoing, but if you don't punish it, then it proliferates until anarchy wears the robes of tolerance and understanding."

She brushed her fingers through the delicate hollow at the base of her neck. "Lord Rahl, the things you say fill me with a rush of hope for the future. I pray to the good spirits that you succeed."

"Then will you join with us? Will you surrender Kelton?"

Her soft brown eyes came up in supplication. "There is a condition."

Richard swallowed. "I have sworn no conditions. Everyone will be treated the same, as I have told you. How could I vow equity if I didn't live by my word and rule?"

She wet her lips again as fear visited her eyes. "I understand," she said in a whisper almost lost in the quiet.”Forgive me for thinking to selfishly gain something for myself. A man of honor such as yourself could not understand how a mere woman such as I could sink to such a level."

Richard wanted to thrust his knife into his chest for allowing fear to haunt her.

"What is your condition?"

Her gaze settled in her lap along with her nested hands. "After your speech, my husband and I were almost home, and…" She grimaced as she swallowed. "We were almost safely home when we were attacked by that monster. I never even saw it coming. I was holding my husband's arm. There was a flash of steel." A moan escaped her throat. Richard had to force himself to stay in his seat. "My husband's insides spilled down the front of me." She gasped back a cry. "The knife that killed him put three slices in my sleeve as it passed."

"Duchess, I understand, there's no need to…"

She held up a trembling hand, imploring silence so she could finish. She pulled up the silken sleeve of her dress to reveal three slices across the flesh of her forearm. Richard recognized the three cuts of a mriswith blade. He had never wished that he knew how to use his gift to heal as much as at that moment. He would have done anything to take the angry red cuts from her arm.

She drew the sleeve down, seeming to read the concern on his face. "It's nothing. A few days and it will be healed." She tapped her chest, between her breasts. "It's what they did to me in here that will not heal. My husband was an expert swordsman, but he had no more chance than would I against those creatures. I will never forget the feel of his warm blood down the front of me. I'm embarrassed to admit that I screamed inconsolably until I could tear that dress off my body and wash the blood from my naked flesh. For fear I'll wake and think I'm still in that dress, I've since had to sleep without any bedclothes."