She glanced sideways at me. "Yes, your highness?" Her voice was cool and collected, totally professional, without a hint of distress that she had to address a human with such an appellation.

"You guys are here to protect me, right?" I asked, and barrelled on when she nodded. "Does that include if I wander around? Y'all will form a phalanx and keep all of the prince's enemies off of me?"

"Of course, your highness," she said gravely. "I do believe that your soulmate has made his point about not tolerating threats to your safety, but we will guard you nonetheless."

"Was it more than four people?" I asked, wrinkling my nose.

"Four was enough, after he had their corpses beheaded and left their skulls in the beds of those who sent them."

Horror thudded into me again, my stomach twisting. "That sounds very... convincing," I said. At least he hadn't wasted the skulls...? "I'm going to get ready. I'll be out in a few."

"As you desire, your highness," the guard said.

I ducked back into my suite, closing the door behind me. I went over to Susan's room and knocked on it. A moment later, the door opened, revealing someone who was definitely not Susan. She was in her mid-forties at least, with dark skin, salt-and-pepper close-cropped curly hair, and dark violet lipstick. Unlike Susan's drab clothing, the new woman was dressed in a well-tailored shirt and divided skirt in vivid yellow and violet patterns that emphasized her hourglass figure without hampering movement.

"Er," I said, a bit stunned to find a beautiful stranger instead of my erstwhile servant. "Is Susan around?"

"Did she not tell you, your highness?" the woman asked. Before I could respond, she said, "No, of course she didn't, or you wouldn't be asking. Susan requested a different posting, outside of the palace."

I winced. "Dain freaked her out that badly? I hope he didn't go after her afterwards."

"Oh, ah, no, Crown Prince Sundamar didn't interfere with her duties," the woman said. "She decided on her own that it was too stressful to serve so near to him."

"Well, welcome to the circus, I guess," I said. "You already know who I am, but feel free to call me Leah instead of 'your highness.' Would you mind helping me get dressed? I have no idea what to wear and I'm gonna go palace-wandering."

"Of course, your highness," she said, with a smile that told me she knew she was tweaking my tail. "My name is Kamharida."

"That's a pretty name," I said, letting her into the room.

Kamharida walked straight over to the pair of wardrobes and started looking through them. "It means 'I shall not fall' in my homeland," she said, pulling out several pieces of clothing, in a summery floral print in salmon-and-aqua on cream. "I grew up in Nigeria."