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“Your grace, I present you your bride,” the caliph said with a thin, amused smile

“No,” the girl said, shaking her head “I never agreed to this” She looked around at the English knights, horror dawning in her dark, brown eyes “I will not I cannot”

“You will” Kivar cut her off He looked toward an alcove to one side, and for the first ti there watching the dais “You uard stood behind the boy, and at this, he put a heavy hand on his shoulder

“Roxanna,” the duke repeated in an over-hearty tone, oblivious to the child He was staring at the girl the same way he had stared at the jewels, as if he couldn’t believe his good fortune “What a beautiful na once at Kivar, she took it, her guards letting her go “You must not be afraid,” the duke said kindly “Whatever you lishmen, I promise you will never be abused”

“You are too good, Christian,” she said, looking at her father, who still smiled his thin little smile “I am not afraid”

I a faster The girl feared her father, not the duke; the little boy was a hostage But why did Kivar threaten his own daughter? Heto reach his lord

“Your letter offered full surrender,” Francis, the duke of Lyan, was saying

“And so you shall have it,” the caliph agreed “You see that uards are unarmed” He looked down at Simon as he drew closer and smiled “Unlike your own”

Another figure slipped froht But while this one stood no taller than the boy in the corner, he was still a man, with a bearded face and thickly muscled arms From the look of hi back in the shadows as if he didn’t care to be seen, but when Siht his eye, he winked as if they shared a secret

“Have you brought your Christian priest, as I requested?” Kivar asked the duke

“Yes, of course,” he answered, still watching Roxanna The wizened friar they’d found in Da around his skinny ankles The bride looked horrified, her dark eyes going darker, taking on a reddish cast that , he realized, but the tears that spilled down her cheeks were not clear; they were red Her tears were blood

“Shall we begin?” the priest said, opening his prayer book

“No!” Sirabbed the duke by the arm “Your Grace, look at her—look at her face!”

The duke turned to hiry, but before he could speak, his expression went blank, his eyes wider but empty Blood trickled from the corner of his ive er still clutched in her fist

“Your Grace!” Siht as chaos erupted in the hall “Francis!” But the duke was past all hearing

“Stupid girl,” Kivar said, slapping Roxanna as behind thehts Sied back to his feet just as a heathen guardsed at him Theand curved like the fangs of a wolf He clutched at Sied a sword into his side

“The head!” Roxanna was shouting “You must take off the head!” The creature laid a hand under Si his throat as Simon hacked at him with his sword, clumsy but determined The blade finally made contact with thehis head from his shoulders

“Kill hiain, and the knight turned quickly, ready for a new attack But Kivar had other prey in uard who held the little boy snatched the child up in a grotesque parody of an es to tear into the tiny throat

“No!” Roxanna screas like the others, and her eyes glowed just as red as she turned on Kivar “Monster! You promised!”

“You betrayedover the fallen duke with barely a ripple of his gold and scarlet robe “You left me no choice”