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floundering on the sandbar, wrestling the immense fish while Joscelin shouted instructions, and how he had beamed when Bizan gave him his fire-striker. I remembered, most of all, how he had flung himself to my defense on the isle of Kapporeth.
    “Not all families are born of blood and seed, my lady. You ought to know that much. If Anafiel Delaunay had not loved your father, you would be dead.”
    Her face stiffened. “You hold that against me at last?”
    “No.” I shook my head, feeling sad. “I merely claim the price of it.”
    “And you, Cassiline?” Ysandre turned to address Joscelin, who had come up behind me. “Are you party to this madness?”
    He bowed with immaculate Cassiline grace. “Forgive me, majesty, but I am.”
    “So be it.” She took the Companions’ Star from my hand, clenching her fist on it as she addressed the dumb-struck watchers. “An offer of twofold honor has been made,” she said grimly, “and a boon requested, which we are sworn to honor by our own word.” She turned to Imriel. “Is it your wish to accept this offer?”
    “Yes.” He quivered with excitement, eyes shining. “Yes, your majesty!”
    Ysandre sighed. “Let the registers reflect that this member of our household shall henceforth be known as Imriel nó Montrève de la Courcel, and he shall be fostered at House Montrève until such time as all parties conclude otherwise, presuming we do not cast his purported foster-mother, the Comtesse de Montrève, and her esteemed consort Joscelin Verreuil, in chains in the next proceedings. Comtesse, we have a letter in your own hand, in which you freely confess that you and your consort countermanded my wishes in the matter of Prince Imriel’s return. Do you deny it?”
    “No, your majesty,” I said.
    “You pledged to return with all possible speed to Comte Raife Laniol, Ambassador de Penfars, in Iskandria, and yet you did not. Why?”
    I cleared my throat. “Because it occurred to me instead to return by way of La Serenissima and strike a bargain with Melisande Shahrizai.”
    Ysandre’s expression was cold. “And what is the nature of this bargain?”
    It was hard to hold her eyes, but I made myself do it. “That I will raise her son, and not you. And in exchange, her oath that she will not raise her hand, nor any other’s, against you or your daughters.”
    Whatever Ysandre had expected, that was not it. She looked away. “Hence the offer of twofold honor.”
    “No,” I said. “I would have made it anyway. What I said before holds true. But this was the only time I could use it as a bargaining chip. I’m sorry, my lady, truly.”
    “You actually think she will abide by this oath, anguissette ?” It was Barquiel L’Envers who asked, leaning idly against Ysandre’s empty throne, as dangerous as a basking leopard. “What an amusing notion! You are still a touch besotted, my dear.”
    I didn’t answer him, but only watched Ysandre. She had called me mad, once, for what I had believed of Melisande. And after La Serenissima, she had promised never to doubt me again. I knew I was right. I didn’t know if Ysandre knew it, or cared.
    She eyed me. “Do you have aught else to say?”
    “Yes, your majesty.” I knelt and proffered the coffer I’d held tucked under my left arm, opening the lid. “Her majesty Queen Zanadakhete of Meroë, who is likewise ruler of Jebe-Barkal, sends her greetings, and wishes you to know that she would welcome a D’Angeline embassy in Meroë, did you wish to send one.”
    Ysandre removed the necklace from the coffer and held it up for inspection. The necklace dangled from her hand, gleaming gold, the massive emerald betwixt the horns of Isis refracting glints of green light on the walls of the throne-room.
    It was worth a king’s ransom.
    “Queen Zanadakhete of Meroë,” Ysandre echoed.
    “Yes, your majesty.” I’d bowed my head after I gave it to her; I kept it that way.
    “ Phèdre .” Her tone startled me into looking up. Ysandre’s face was unreadable. “Did you find the object of your quest?”
    We might have been alone in the throne-room, she and I. When all was said and done, we had been through a good deal together, Ysandre de la Courcel and I. My lord Delaunay had pledged his life to protect her, for love of her father. Most of the battles I have fought have been her battles, and if I have regretted any, it was only the means, not the cause.
    Our lives too were intertwined.
    And that too was the Name of