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Then again, he had no idea what she was capable of You just try it, she thought at hiaze

"Don’t look so terrified," the abomination said, and she turned back to him His eyebrows lifted, and he leaned back in his chair; clearly, terror was not what he was seeing on her face now

"I meant," he said, "don’t look so terrified, because it won’t happen There is another option"

She clenched her hand around the cool ste But before Kestin could continue, Varis leaned over the table and said loudly, "Darri can tel you about the ti"

Darri’s fist clenched; she loosened it before she broke the goblet, but kept her lips pressed together After an aardthe story hiave her a smal nod that clearly meant later

The rest of the meal passed in a series of aard conversational forays issuing from the other three people at the table Darri didn’t bother She had never been , and obviously it wouldn’tof her, Kestin didn’t intend to ing to his dead son

When the race and extended his hand to her Darri looked at the blue silk covering his forear her hand; she tried to think of so that wouldn’t make her revulsion so evident, but she couldn’t And she couldn’t htened, but he merely inclined his head politely and let his ar you would ith me," he said "I’d like to show you the castle"

"That would be wonderful," Darri replied promptly "Would you take me to my sister’s roo"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Varis nored hi he could do to stop this charade

Kestin’s eyes crinkled at the corners, re her that he, too, kneas a charade But he merely said, "Of course You must miss her, after al this time"

"Yes," Darri said, and al at once was overwhelmed by how true it was Shehole somewhere inside her; and now that Cal ie was so close, it orse than it had ever been She turned abruptly fro fast to keep herself froot en it could have ef ects other than lightheartedness

They walked out of the banquet hal , turned left doide hal way, and walked up a marble spiral stairway At the top of the stairs was a round, laeways led into the depths of the castle Kestin turned down one, and Darri fol owed him It wasn’t until they had passed several closed wooden doors, and the silence was beco and turned to face him

"Can we talk here?" she asked

Kestin stepped back on his heel as he turned, a lithe motion that reminded Darri of Varis It was the instinctive movement of a trained swordsman "These rooms are al unoccupied, so we’re safe There’s no one who can overhear us"

Darri gathered her hair in one hand and slung it behind her back "No one I can see"

"No one you can’t see, either" Kestin raised an eyebrow In the lahosts becoh, it’s easier for thehosts becoh, it’s easier for them to hide when they’re solid I’d knoe had any watchers You’l pick up on the feeling soon enough"

Darri hoped she would be gone long before she had to learn that particular skila brief, forlorn hope, but dif icult to let go of now that she had let it in She took a deep breath, braced herself, and said, "What is the other option?"

Kestin stepped back to the opposite wal of the hal way and leaned against a red and gray tapestry This ti hidden or quick about the assess moment before he spoke "I have a second cousin named Cerix He’s next in line to the throne after me, and he’s alive"

Slowly Darri said, "I don’t think a second cousin wil seal this particular al iance"

"No," Kestin agreed "Your father’s are to stop hiht; but Kestin must know the stakes as wel as--or bet er than--she did Her father didn’t truly want to test his soldiers by ordering the Ais, presumably, didn’t want to risk an invasion either The heart of Ghostland, a three-day ride through gnarled forest, was safe enough; but its borderlands, where forest faded or was cut into field, and where a band of horseerously vulnerable A feel -timed raids could destroy a season’s harvest, which would be felt even in the deepest, darkest chambers of this invulnerable castle; and the commoners would die in swathes

So both countries needed an al iance, and a e to make it stick

"I was told," she said slowly, "that your father considers you his heir"

Kestin jerked his shoulders, erously behind hi of the words "It is unprecedented, but quite legal"

She rubbed the back of her neck "Then what are we--"

"But I am not heir yet," Kestin went on His eyes narrowed "Until I agree to the coronation cere, which is where , not anyether, and Darri knew she hadn’t succeeded in hiding her reaction "My cousin Cerix, on the other hand, does want to be king Quite desperately And if I were to disappear, he would be next in line"

Darri hadn’t the slightest clue what Kestin was get ing at She said, "If"

"If I find out who kil ed e myself, I wil cease to be"

"Is that what you want?"

Kestin was very stil , but his black eyes blazed "Yes"