The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

words stopped him.
    “I am in charge here.” Katie’s voice rose, became shrill.
    Quinnault backed away. He bumped up against the protruding alcove wall that masked this corridor’s join with the older, central keep. He smiled. His architects had incorporated older tunnels and hidden passageways into the new building. Escape routes in case the keep fell to invasion or treachery, they had insisted.
    The secret panel yielded to the pressure of one hand and slid inward on recently oiled hinges. Cold, damp river air gushed out of the tunnel. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
    He kept his right hand against the wall, counting stones until he reached the twenty-seventh. He identified it by tracing its outline, rougher and larger than its neighbors. At the bottom right-hand corner he found an extra knob, no larger than his little fingernail. He turned it three times to the right. Half the wall swung inward a narrow slit. He stepped through and found himself behind a full-length tapestry between a wardrobe cabinet and the inside corner of the room.
    The loose weave of the wall hanging allowed him to see the majority of the room. Princess Maarie Kaathliin paced anxiously at the foot of the four-poster bed. The bed hangings were thrown open to reveal rumpled sheets and blankets. Katie was fully dressed in her heavy woolen gown. She kept her hands folded inside the full sleeves and hunched her shoulders as if warding off a chill.
    A large fire blazed in the hearth, heating the room well beyond what Quinnault thought comfortable. Kinnsell stood before the fire, warming his hands above the flames.
    “I am still your father, Mary Kathleen O’Hara, and you will obey me in this. We owe it to the Empire.”
    “I will not discuss this. We do it my way or not at all.” Katie ceased her pacing abruptly. “And stop trying to break down my shields. Isn’t it bad enough their magicians will be playing games with my mind and my memories tomorrow?”
    Kinnsell stood firm, staring at his daughter with fierce concentration.
    “Get out of my mind and this room, Kinnsell. Get out or I call the guard, and all of your fancy weapons and technology won’t get you out of their dungeons. I’ll see to it.” Katie matched him stare for stare. “Go back to Terra, Daddy, and make a new desert. You are very good at that.”
    Kinnsell stalked out of the room, back rigid. The cords on the back of his neck stood out from the tension in his jaw.
    Katie slammed the door behind him.
    Quinnault shifted his balance to his toes ready to flee or dash forward, whatever seemed called for. Unsure of what he had just witnessed, he braced himself with one hand against the wall and breathed deeply. Dimly he was aware of Katie wrapping a brick from the hearth in a wad of cloth. She placed it beneath the covers on the rumpled bed and climbed in, fully clothed. He could hear her teeth chattering and wondered how hot the climate of her home was—truly Terrania?—that she found this warm palace so cold.
    Katie tossed and turned for several minutes before curling up in a ball and drifting to sleep.
    Quinnault waited several more minutes before stirring. He longed to stand closer and watch his bride. He hesitated, unsure of what he had witnessed between Katie and her father and if it boded ill for his kingdom.
    His mind spun furiously. He hadn’t found contentment watching Katie, only more questions.
    The latch clicked. Quinnault pressed his back against the wall. Katie didn’t stir.
    He watched the door inch open, half expecting Kinnsell to reappear with some new argument. A Rover-dark man of medium height and lithe build crept into the room. He looked all around and closed the door behind him. It didn’t latch.
    Before Quinnault could catch his breath and leap out to question the man, the intruder moved forward with three long strides. He pulled a long cord from his pocket and wrapped it tightly around both hands.
    Quinnault dove out from behind the tapestry as the Rover tightened the cord around Katie’s slim neck.

Chapter 26
     
    W here is Scarface hiding tonight? Televarn asked himself. He’d already checked the wineshops the magician haunted. The man spent a lot of time drowning his physical pain in wine. Tonight he seemed to be occupied elsewhere. No one had seen him.
    Some of the shopkeepers were lying. Scarface had been there, but wasn’t there when Televarn looked. He checked with magic as well as mundane senses.
    Lacking the