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"No one in Agio, obviously" Before Randahl could snap a reply, Lucivar continued harshly, "If Mari and Khevin io instead of leaving thehted?"

Randahl’s face flushed a dull red "And ould an Ebon-gray Warlord Prince know about being sneered at or slighted?"

Lucivar didn’t knohether he er cared what people knew about him or because he wasn’t sure he and Randahl would survive "I grew up in Terreille, not Kaeleer I was too young to re told, and believing, that I was a half-breed bastard, unwanted and unclaimed You don’t knohat it’s like to be a bastard in an Eyrien hunting cahed bitterly "The favorite taunt was ’your father was a Jhinka’ Do you have any idea what that j means to an Eyrien? That you were sired by a male from I a hated race and that your ly since she carried you full term and birthed I you? Oh, I think I kno someone like Khevin feels" I

Randahl cleared his throat "It shaio Lady Erika tried to I make a place for him in her court Felt she owed it to him I because her ex-Consort had sired the boy But he wasn’t happy, and Mari and her grandmother were here So he I came back"

And had endured ostracis BloodCraft tokept as far away from Jaenelle as possible

Lucivar finally answered the question he saw in Ran- | dahl’s eyes "Two of Lady Angelline’s friends were training Khevin"

Randahl rubbed the back of his neck "Should have I thought to ask her ourselves She has a way about her"

Lucivar sht! also have soht relocate If they survived

For a moment, he allowed himself to believe they | would survive

Then the Jhinka returned

10 / Kaeleer

Randahl shaded his eyes against the late afternoon sun and studied the low hills that were black aiting Jhinka I "They must have called up all the clans froainst the back of the coht, Yaslana, there must be five thousand of them out there"

"More like six" Lucivar widened his stance It was the only way his tired, treht

Six thousandthe past few days and that witch stor on the shield tohim in the process Six thousand more and no way to catch the Winds because that storm made it impossible to detect those psychic roadways

They could shield and they could fight, but they couldn’t send out a call for help and they couldn’t escape The food had run out yesterday The well dried up thatfor the sun to sink a little farther behind the loestern hills before they attacked

"We’re not going to make it, are we?" Randahl said

"No," Lucivar replied softly "We’re not going to make it"

In the past three days, he’d drained both Ebon-gray Jewels as well as his Red ring The Red Jewel around his neck was now the only power reserve they had, and that wasn’t going to hold much beyond the first attack Randahl and the other three had exhausted their Jewels before he and Jaenelle had arrived There hadn’t been enough food or rest to bring any of the to make it But Jaenelle had to She was too valuable a Queen to lose in a trap that, he was convinced, had been set to destroy hiuave him to make this demand, Lucivar said, "Ask the Lady to join me here"

No fool, Randahl understood why the request was being made now

Alone for a moment, Lucivar rolled his neck and stretched his shoulders, trying to ease the tense, tired muscles

It is easier to kill than to heal It is easier to destroy than to preserve It is easier to tear down than to build Those who feed on destructive emotions and ambitions and deny the responsibilities that are the price of wielding power can bring down everything you care for and would protect Be on guard, always

Saetan’s words Saetan’s warning to the young Warlords and Warlord Princes who gathered at the Hall

But Saetan had never : soh to give Jaenelle a swift, clean death But even at full strength, Randahl and the other Warlords wore lighter-rank Jewels, and landens had no ; inner defense against the Blood Once Jaenelle and Mari were away from here, once the Jhinka started their final attack, he would make a fast descent, pull up every drop of power he had left, and unleash that force The landens would die instantly, their ht survive for a few seconds longer, but not long enough for the Jhinka to reach them

And the Jhinkathey, too, would die Some of them A lot of them But not all of them He would be left, alone, when the survivors tore hiht Jhinka in Terreille He’d seen what they did to captives When it caenious people But then, so were ht his eye

Jaenelle stood a few feet away, her eyes fixed on the Jhinka

She wore nothing but the Black Jewel around her neck

He could understand why Even her underclothes wouldn’t have fit All the ained over the past year were gone Having no other source of fuel, her body had consule to be the receptacle for the poithin Bones pressed against pale, damp, blood-streaked skin He could count her ribs, could see her hipbones olden hair was dark and stiff with the blood that h it

Despite that, or perhaps because of it, her face was strangely co fire, leaving her with a tieless beauty that suited her ancient, haunted sapphire eyes It looked like an exquisiteconcerns •

Then the h hirabbed the corner and hung on with a desperation rapidly being consu fear

The world spun with sick speed, spun in tighter and tighter spirals, dragging at histo tear him away from any sane anchor Faster and faster Deeper and deeper