She stood in front of them now, her forefinger touching her bottom lip. “Now let’s see if I’ve got this right. You’re Aidan, you’re Uther and you’re . . . Caswyn?”

Caswyn nodded. “Yes, my lady.”

“Excellent.” She smiled, then, like a snake, struck, her hand reaching out and wrapping around Caswyn’s throat, eyes rolling back in her head, her body leaning in as she used her magicks to look into Caswyn’s mind so she could find the true story.

She didn’t bother with Aidan because she knew he’d fight to keep her out. But Caswyn, who wasn’t good at keeping his mouth shut in the first place . . .

Gasping, the Empress released Caswyn and stumbled back. Fang and Zhi caught her before she could hit the floor and placed her in her chair.

“Ma? What is it?”

“He’s been lying,” she whispered desperately. “He’s been lying. He’s been lying. He’s been lying.”

“Ma,” Fang begged. “Stop. What did you see?”

“Xing. He’s been lying. He doesn’t have my son.” With tears spilling down her face, the Empress announced, “My Ren . . . my Ren is dead.”

* * *

“You don’t know you’re right,” Brannie argued with her cousin.

“But I’m sure I’m not wrong.”

Brannie shook her head. “Wait . . . what?”

They followed Batu to his war tent. Generals and lower-level tribal leaders waited within, and the one he called Nergi the Knowing came a few seconds later. Batu updated them all on what Keita believed, but from what Brannie could tell, her cousin had no hard evidence. How could she move on any of this without hard evidence?

“Wait,” Brannie cut in when the tribal leaders, all male, began to debate what they should do next. “Before we make any move, we should think about what we’re doing. There’s no guarantee that any of this is correct.”

“Who is this big-shouldered woman,” one of the tribal leaders demanded, “that she believes she can speak among men?”

Brannie, with her head still pounding, her cousin smirking, and some human male attempting to look down on her despite the fact she towered over him, snarled, “I am Branwen the Awful. Captain of the First and Fifteenth Companies of the Dragon Queen’s Armies. Daughter of Ghleanna the Decimator and Bram the Merciful. And best friends forever with Iseabail the Dangerous. That’s who I am. And who the battle-fuck are you?”

Keita eased up behind Brannie and whispered in her ear, “Nicely handled, cousin. Now we can watch the poor fucks completely lose their shit when they realize there are two Southland dragons here.”

The tribal leader, after looking at all the others, finally asked, “You are Branwen the Awful? The Branwen the Awful?”

“I . . . I guess so.” Brannie only knew of one Branwen the Awful.

Suddenly each tribal leader and general dropped to one knee, one fist against the heart, head bowed.