“Then I don’t know what we’re arguing about, cousin.”

“Just because they’re bastards, doesn’t mean we have to be.”

Keita’s eyes rolled all the way to the back of her head. “You are such a goody two-claws.”

“Can we eat outside?” Uther asked. “Or in the stables? I just don’t think I can eat with the sound of his screaming.”

Keita gawked at the Mì-runach. “What kind of dragon are you?” she asked.

Uther shrugged. “A nice one.”

She let out a sigh. “Fine. If your fragile sensibilities can’t handle a little screaming—”

Before she could finish, Caswyn was up and across the room. He cut off the priest’s head midscream and the silence was . . . amazing.

Pointing the sword at Keita, Caswyn accused, “I thought you were some prissy little royal princess. But you are—”

“Lovely? Divine? Bold and sassy?”

“Vile.”

Keita shrugged, sipped her wine. “That, too.”

Chapter Eight

Aidan sat in silence with his Mì-runach brothers for at least an hour in one of the castle bedrooms until he heard a faint knock at the door.

He opened it and Brannie stood on the other side. Her black hair was wet from a recent bath and combed off her face. She had a long, plain cotton shirt on and a map in her hand.

“We need to discuss tomorrow’s plans,” she said evenly.

“Yes. Of course.” He stepped back and allowed her in.

But once Aidan closed the door, Brannie suddenly spun to face him, her eyes wild. The map went flying as she hysterically asked him in a desperate whisper, “Who is that she-demon?”

“Your cousin!” Aidan whispered back.

“That’s not the Keita I know!” she continued to whisper. “We can’t go traipsing around with her! She’ll kill us all in our sleep!”

“No,” Uther corrected, also whispering, “we’ll probably all be awake when she does it. She’ll want to stare us in the eye as we’re bleeding out of every orifice!”

“But—” Caswyn said in his normal voice and they all immediately hushed him.

Poor Caswyn reared back and refused to speak again. Probably for the best. At the moment, they were all panicked and easily startled.

Brannie began to pace around the room. “Now I see what my mother was worried about.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If it turns out that Ren died on our queen’s territory, while under our protection, the Empress will declare war on Rhiannon and strike.”

“Well, that’s bad but—”

“Mum’s worried Keita will try and stop her by killing the entire royal family. From the Empress on down.”

Aidan had a hard time believing that. “You don’t think she would, do you?”

“If you’d asked me this yesterday, no. I wouldn’t have believed it. But after this . . .” Brannie shook her head. “She lured that priest here. But before that, she studied the habits of the Chramnesind priests and priestesses so she knew what poison to use to kill the guards and keep him alive but in torturous pain. That goes beyond mere dragon mayhem.”