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Thank the Darkness, the cere when she would be the special guest at a feast held in her honor

Honor,Cassidy thought as she brushed her hair The Shaladorans had held on to honor when they could hold on to nothing else She saw that truth in their dark eyes, heard it in the quiet voices Unlike Ranon, as vocal on his people’s behalf, the Queens and elders had said nothing They didn’t have to Just looking at thenity in their voices told her more than words

The boardinghouse told her even more Shabby? Yes But there was a new mattress on the bed in her room, new linens The rooh the wallpaper still showed signs of water stains Andeverything was free of psychic scents There was no psychic residue on the bed or linens or carpets to reveal the previous owners

Who in the village had given up these new things in order to furnish this room for her visit?

She didn’t kno in—if the Shaladorans, and Theran, would let her do this much

She looked at the door that opened into the adjoining bedroohts it should have been her First Escort’s roo to the elders, and Gray had been assigned that room His need to be close to her had been so obvious, Theran had said nothing about taking the roo door Ranon and Shira were across the hall fro a room At some point she would ask Shira if the elders’ eyes had widened because it was a Black Widow and a Warlord Prince sharing a room or just because it was unusual in the reserves for unmarried lovers to share a room so openly

For now, she would go outside and take a look at the boardinghouse’s gardens and see what she could do

When she opened the bedroo for her in the hallway, there were no escorts There were no males of any kind

But there was a Sceltie, who took one look at her and said, Hat, Cassie

“I’m just—”

Hat

She fetched the brown, open-weave hat she had bought for this visit Gray insisted she wear a hat to protect her skin, and Shira had talked her into shopping for one and had gone so far as to buy a hat too, laughingly saying it would beco in the First Circle would wear a hat as a symbol of her service to the Queen

At the ti and Shira’s purchase of a hat without a second thought Now she wondered how dear the cost of the hat had been for the Shalador witchHer hat had been put on the court account, and its price would be deducted from the tithe the shopkeeper owed at the end of summer But Shira had paid for her own hat

Prince Sadi had offered to help pay some of her expenses while she was in Dena Nehele Would he be willing to extend the Queen’s gift to a sainst their quarterly wages? Would she have the courage to ask him?