Shalador's Lady

the attics here. “I have enough money from my family to pay for the servants and start doing some repairs here.”
    “But you live in a mansion. ”
    “This spring was the first time I set foot in this house. My family hasn’t lived here for generations. Couldn’t live here because the Territory Queen had claimed it for herself.”
    She looked around the room, as if casting about for something she could understand.
    For a moment, he thought she was going to ask him to sell off some of the furnishings in order to pay for another damn dress. But she looked at him with a tiny frown. “Can’t you raise the tithes?”
    “And give more people a reason to leave?” He raked his hand through his hair. “Have you paid any attention when we went driving around the town? Have you noticed all the empty houses and empty shops?”
    “Yes.” Her frowned deepened. “Grayhaven is the important town. Why aren’t there more people living here?”
    “Because they’re dead.”
    Her eyes filled with tears. Her lower lip quivered.
    He closed his eyes for a moment to regain control.
    She’s young, inexperienced. She’s lived in a safe little village her whole life. Sweet Darkness, please let her understand this time.
    “Half the Blood in Dena Nehele were destroyed by that witch storm that ripped through the Realms a couple of years ago. Then the landens rose up against us, and half of the survivors died. Do you understand, Kermilla? For every four Blood who were alive three years ago, only one of us is left. ”
    She stared at him, her face wiped clean of all expression.
    Returning to the footstool, he sat and faced her again. “I can’t give you what I don’t have. I think you can be a good Queen, but you’ve let a few questionable companions persuade you into making bad decisions. You’ve lost the respect of some powerful men because of it.”
    “Theran, I’m truly sorry. I didn’t know how bad it’s been for all of you.”
    Why not? he wondered. I’ve been telling you since the first time we took a drive around the town.
    “I guess I didn’t understand that things would be so different here. That ruling would be so different here.”
    Theran’s heart pounded. She sounded regretful, almost apologetic.
    “I’ll do better,” Kermilla said in a subdued voice. “I promise.”
    He kissed the back of her hand, then said with all the conviction he could put in his voice, “We can have a good life, Kermilla. It’s just going to take time and work.”
    Nodding, she pulled away from him gently and left the room. She didn’t join them for dinner that night, which he didn’t think odd, but he did regret that her door remained locked to him when he tapped on it later that night.
    And he tried not to think about the sounds he’d heard a moment before he knocked. Sounds an aural shield could have politely hidden if she hadn’t wanted anyone to hear.
    Sounds that indicated she’d found consolation with someone else that night.

CHAPTER 22
    TERREILLE
    S tanding in the doorway of the dining room, Dryden announced, “Princes Ferall, Rikoma, Elendill, and Hikaeda have arrived. I have put them in the visitors’ parlor.”
    Ranon almost spit a mouthful of coffee across the table. “They’re here already ?” When he’d suggested they come in the morning, he hadn’t expected the four men to arrive this early.
    Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he pushed away from the table. “Thank you, Dryden. I’ll be there in a minute.”
    “It will be fine, Ranon,” Powell said. He was the only other person left at the table.
    “Will it?” Not knowing if Ferall now served Kermilla and was here as her eyes and ears made Ranon edgy. That uncertainty had gnawed at him ever since he’d agreed to this visit.
    “They’ll see what they want to see. Show them the village. Show them the people. That’s all you can do. I’ll inform Maydra that we will have four guests for the midday meal.”
    “Where is Cassie?” Ranon asked.
    “I believe she went upstairs to change clothes.”
    Ranon hurried to the visitors’ parlor. The four men hadn’t taken a seat. When he walked in they were doing a slow prowl around the room, looking a little baffled.
    “Good morning,” he said.
    Ferall nodded, as did Rikoma and Elendill. Hikaeda smiled and said, “Have we come to the right place, Ranon? When we arrived at the landing web and asked for the Queen’s residence, we were directed here.”
    “Used to be a boardinghouse, so it has a