I throw my arm around Tasmeen’s shoulders, letting my robe hang open as we walk back to her quarters. Passing courtiers smirk and nod at us. In the morning, the news will be all over the palace.

Prince Rasulus left his wife’s bed for Tasmeen Locarnan.

Tasmeen smiles a beautiful smile and nods at my slurred compliments. She’s technically married to my brother—another one of his many wives. In our father’s time, the king’s wives were honored and respected. Being Crucis’s wife means something very different. The girls he brought to the palace were fair game for his favorite suitors.

We keep up our charade until we are in Tasmeen’s private chambers. She disentangles from me with a slight shudder of disgust and gestures toward a small chest under her bed.

“Your extra clothes are in the chest over there.”

“Thank you. Should I assume I will be needing them?”

“Yes. My brother has decided to meet with you. He’ll be at the Andorri Fountain for an hour before dawn. If you aren’t there, he will not come again. And he will add a second Velorum to his list of enemies.”

“Your family doesn’t do things by halves, does it, Tasmeen?”

She smiles at me and curtsies. She has been my brother’s wife for almost a year. There were still bets on when Tasmeen, with her Locarnan pride, might kill herself with shame. She had beaten them all so far.

“No, we don’t. You would do well to remember that fact, my prince.”

It doesn’t look like Rohani Locarnan is going to make things easy for me. I sneak through the quieter passages, the ones nearly forgotten by the courtiers and only known to the servants. I keep my head down and the hood of my cloak drawn. I look like a noble making my escape before my mistress’s husband returns.

A small stable is located close to the entrance of the palace. A sympathetic and stolid innkeeper keeps a pair of strong kashaks exclusively for me, along with a box containing an unadorned sword and a pair of fighting knives. I strap on the weapons and saddle and bridle the larger kashak myself. As I ride for the Andorri Fountain, I curse at the lightening sky.

I cannot spend too much time looking up. Kashaks, the tall flightless birds we ride for hunting and sport, are vicious. The fiercer the bird, the faster it is. The one I am riding has sleek black feathers giving it an imposing appearance. I can tell that it is ready to throw me and make a bid for its freedom as soon as I give it a window of opportunity. I keep a heavy hand on the reins, keeping myself ready for it to shy or attempt a long fluttering leap. It is looking for an opening that might make me fall and dash my head open.

Despite the need to concentrate on my mount, I cannot keep my mind away from the woman waiting for me in my chambers. The Earth woman is full of surprises. She is brave when she should be frightened and kind where she has no reason to be. If I concentrate, I can still feel her small hand touching mine, trying to offer comfort to someone who she barely knows.

We are meant to be a match, but this feels like more than a meeting of blood and flesh. Something about her, something in her pale blue eyes, calls to me. She haunts me. Somehow, I know I will never rest peacefully if she is away from me.

I wonder what Perri thought when Tasmeen appeared at my door like a beautiful vision, and spirited me away from her with only a whisper. If I were actually as clever a tactician as I would like to be, she would be furious, screaming her fury to the skies. Rasulus Velorum seeking another woman on his wedding night suits my reputation quite well.

For some reason, the thought stings more than anything has in a long time. I do not mind her screaming in pleasure, but having her dishonored and humiliated, cast into the role of a jilted wife, makes me flinch.

The kashak stops short from a dead run, nearly pitching me over its head. If I fall in front of it, I know the animal will not hesitate to trample me under its enormous claws. I barely maintain my seat and urge the beast on again.

I come to the fountain as dawn is about to break, lashing the kashak’s reins to a nearby tree. I look around frantically. Have I missed him?

Andorri Fountain lies in the wooded area outside of the capitol. It’s part of the ruins of a much older city, the origins of which have been lost to time. We believe it to be a cursed place, haunted by ghosts. As I look around at the shattered stone paving and dry fountain that is almost twice as tall as I am, it is easy to imagine the spirits of our ancestors watching our every move. I wonder if they are baleful and angry at the mess we have made of things.

For a moment, I think that I have missed my chance and the Locarnan clan will happily put my head on a pike along with my brother’s. There is a flicker of movement in the shadows, and Rohani himself steps forward. He is a big man, taller than me and more powerfully built. In his own way, he is as beautiful as his sister. It would be hard to say which is the deadlier of the two.

“I’m surprised you had the balls to come out here. The princeling Velorum himself.”

“I am not here for you to insult me, Lord Locarnan. Your sister says you come in good faith.”

“Not exactly. I have to come see if you are worthy of my good faith. I hear many things from my estates in the country. They call you a drunken idiot, one who does not even know what was stolen from you.”

“They are wrong. Believe me when I say that I do know what I lost, and I am ready to fight to win it back. If you think I am a fool, why did your sister bring you here to meet me?”

“Tasmeen still has hope. I confess I am rather short on hope myself.”

“What can I do to restore it?”

“Fight for it, princeling.”

For a man as large as Rohani Locarnan, he moves as fast as the wind. He lunges at me from a dead stop, crossing the courtyard with his sword drawn. I am ready for his attack and parry easily, pulling back and evading his deadly charge.

I can imagine what he is thinking. He will either find that I am a warrior worth backing, or there will be one less Velorum in the world. Either way, he wins. I can only win if I can both keep the man alive as well as prove my worth to him.

Rohani fights with the will of a person who has glimpsed hope and wants to see if it is worth what’s left of his soul. He batters at me with some skill, but I can see that his once legendary battle prowess has been blunted over time. I circle him, feinting at his defenses and learning more from him than he can from me.

My lessons are not without cost, of course. Rohani scores more than one cut on me. The lightest is a graze over my thigh. The deepest is a slash at my ribs when he slips past my defenses. I strike back, bloodying him as well.

Finally, my foot lashes out, catching his ankle and laying him flat on his back. We are both breathing hard, covered with sweat and blood. I kick his sword away. Instead of putting my sword’s tip to his throat, I offer him my hand.

For a moment, I think he will not take it, and lunge at me instead, unable to accept defeat. As the madness clears from his eyes, he smiles ruefully, grabbing my hand and letting me haul him up. When he is not consumed by grief, it is easy to see the relation between him and Tasmeen.

“All right, Prince Rasulus. Perhaps you are a man worth following after all.”

“Princeling is a perfectly acceptable title until we have the strength to strike back against my brother.”

There is not enough time to speak beyond that. The ruins can feel like a maze, but the enemy could always get lucky. I have been planning too long to allow for bad luck. We part, deciding to use Tasmeen as a go-between.

As I ride back to the capital, it strikes me that I have had only a few hours of sleep in the last few days. Even though Perri’s charms are great, being in bed with her is hardly restful.

The idea of curling up next to her, of feeling her body safe and warm against mine, almost makes me sway in the saddle. When I return to my apartment, I will grab her and drag her to bed. Explanations can wait. The succession and throne can wait. At the moment, the only thing keeping me going is the thought of being buried under the furs with my wife.

Even the word wife makes me smile as I ride for home. I can’t remember the last time I smiled or thought about anything besides deposing my brother.

The palace is silent as I creep in, hugging the outermost wall to avoid being seen. There is little chance of discovery at this point. Most of the courtiers and nobles of the palace are sleeping off last night’s drinking and fucking. The only ones remaining are the servants. They are well-used to my comings and goings.

I am almost to a small door into the palace itself when I hear a sharp cry. I would normally ignore it, but something about the cry sends a tremor of cold, sharp fear down my spine. I am momentarily unable to move, and then pull myself out of it, breaking into a run. I don’t care who sees me or what they think.

I recognize the voice. Just a few hours ago, I had heard it raised in sweet passion. Now it’s laced with fear, and it comes from a direction that fills me with cold dread.

I hear it cry out again, and I accelerate. Even though I hate the sound of Perri’s fear, as long as she is crying out, she is still alive. Even if she is hurt. Even if she is scared.

If she has gone where she shouldn’t, hurt and scared might be the best I can hope for. Running kashaks can be vicious. If she has stumbled into the paddock of a nesting mother, she might be fed to the hatchlings before I can call her name again.

As I run, I realize, almost with wonder, that I am starting to panic. I thought I had left terror behind me, along with my dead family. When I set on my path to destroy my brother’s reign, I had decided that I had nothing to lose and therefore nothing to fear.

My heart beats in my chest like a wild beast.

Today I am afraid again.