“Sakor’s luck to you all. Be careful. I can’t bear finding you wounded every time I look in on you.”

She grinned. “I’ll try, but no promises. Good night, my dear friend.”

Thero closed the spell and sat for a moment, trying to hold her image in his mind a little longer, and the sound of her voice as she called him “dear friend.”

It was all he dared hope for, but when he slept that night, his dreams were filled—as they so often were—with that sweet voice and lovely visage, and, tonight, the sight of a bandage encircling a slender bare leg.

Chapter 17 - Intrigue

WHEN Thero was gone, Klia lay there for a moment, picturing his face and, as always, missing the wizard more for having had such a fleeting glimpse of him. During those precious, peaceful months together in Aurënen, she’d come to first like Thero, then something more began to develop—or so she thought. One moment they’d be laughing together, the next he’d be his old stiff and formal self again. But tonight, just before he’d broken off the spell, she was sure she’d seen him color when she called him “friend.”

She had no time for such thoughts now. Pulling the blanket around her, she limped to the tent door, where two of Beka’s men were on guard duty. “Rider Yonus, send a runner for your captain. Where’s the major?”

“Here.” Myrhini stepped from the shadows beyond the watch fire.

“Come in, and close the flap.” Klia lowered herself into one of the chairs by the map table with her wounded leg stretched out in front of her. “We have a problem.”

It was not unusual for Beka to be called to Klia’s tent. But Klia’s and Myrhini’s deadly serious expressions as she came in made her halt just inside the tent flap. “Commander?”

“Come, sit with us,” Klia said, gesturing her to a stool very close to her own. She and the major appeared to be trying to keep anyone else from hearing. Beka soon understood why.

“You’ve never given me reason to doubt your honor, Beka,” Klia began. “Apart from Myrhini, I trust you the most of any of my officers, so I’m about to put my life in your hands.”

Beka went down on one knee and pressed her fist to her chest. “Your Highness, command me.”

“No need for that. Sit, please. I’ve had some disturbing news. There may be a cabal who want to put me on the throne in my niece’s place. There’s another that may be working against me. Beka, would you say you’re friends with Captain Danos?”

Beka felt a flicker of apprehension. “Yes, Commander, I am. I saved his life in the spring and he’s done the same for me. He’s a good man, and a friend.”