The Shadow Queen

any permanent damage. I’ll just have to be careful for a while because they’ll be tender.”
    Talon nodded. “You want to tell me what happened?”
    “No.”
    He tapped a finger against his chest. “Master of the Guard, remember?”
    “It’s . . . personal.”
    Personal. Theran wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t have gone up to her room last night without an invitation. Would he?
    “Did Theran . . . ?” He looked away. He didn’t want to say the words, but he couldn’t dismiss the depth of Yaslana’s fury—especially when that fury seemed mostly aimed at Theran. “Did he do something he shouldn’t have?”
    “No.”
    He heard the lie, but he couldn’t call her on it. Even as her Master of the Guard, he couldn’t call her on the lie. But he could—and would—talk to Shira and find out if Cassidy had any other injuries.
    He didn’t think Shira would tell him anything ugly—mostly because he was certain Yaslana wouldn’t have let Theran live if the harm the boy had done to Cassidy had been physical.
    “I heard Yaslana dumped a couple buckets of water on you,” Talon said. “Not exactly a courteous thing to do.”
    Cassidy looked at him, clearly surprised—and relieved—that he wasn’t demanding an explanation of what had ridden her so hard she hadn’t noticed the damage she was doing to herself. “Oh. Well. That’s Lucivar. He used to do that to everyone. When he was annoyed with his sister, he used to toss her into the pond, and she was the Queen he served.”
    “How did you get to know someone like Yaslana?”
    “My cousin Aaron served in the Dark Court’s First Circle, and Lucivar was the First Escort. Before the court formed officially, apprenticeships were offered to give some people an opportunity to work with darker-Jeweled witches and Warlord Princes and to study Protocol with the High Lord.”
    Talon’s jaw dropped. “You learned Protocol from the High Lord of Hell?”
    “Training in Protocol starts after a child’s Birthright Ceremony and continues all through schooling. The High Lord’s lessons were more about dealing with darker-Jeweled males and also the Protocols used when the living had contact with the demon-dead. And Jaenelle said trying to deal with Lucivar was an experience a Queen should have at least once.”
    So Sadi’s wife had been there too.
    “Where was this dark court located?”
    Cassidy looked puzzled. “Where?”
    “Seemed like there was at least one court in every Territory that was referring to itself as a dark court,” Talon said. “I was just wondering where the one you mentioned was located.”
    “In Kaeleer, there was only one that was referred to as the Dark Court,” Cassidy said slowly. “That was the court at Ebon Askavi.”
    Mother Night.
    “With that kind of credentials, why doesn’t Sadi’s wife have a court?” Talon asked, but he was more wondering out loud than expecting an answer.
    “After she recovered from her injuries, she didn’t want to rule anymore,” Cassidy said, “and everyone was so glad she survived, they didn’t care if there was an official court.”
    “She was injured?”
    “Two years ago. It was several months before anyone knew for sure that she survived, and several more before she was fully healed.”
    Two years ago. Two years ago.
    “She got caught in that storm of power the Kaeleer army unleashed?”
    Cassidy frowned at him. “There wasn’t an army. That was Jaenelle. She unleashed her full strength and cleansed all three Realms of the Blood tainted by that bad High Priestess.”
    Talon swayed. He had felt that power when it screamed through Terreille two years ago. Had felt the bite of it before it let him go, passed him by.
    One witch had unleashed that much power? One?
    He stared at Cassidy.
    “Didn’t Theran tell you?” Cassidy asked.
    “Tell me what?”
    “Before she was injured, Jaenelle was the Queen of Ebon Askavi.”

    Theran paced the length of the larger meeting room, shooting looks at Ranon every time he passed that end of the table.
    “You’re sure Talon said to meet him here?”
    Ranon gave him a cold stare. “I’m sure. He said to give him an hour, and then he wanted to meet with the whole First Circle. Guess he got delayed.”
    By what? Theran wondered.
    When Talon walked in a few minutes later, he knew something was terribly wrong, because he’d never seen the older man look so shaken—or scared.
    “You young fool,” Talon said, heading right for him. “What did you do? What did you do? ”
    Talon grabbed Theran by the shirt and shook him before giving him a shove that