Pacing the throne room, furnished only by the empty wooden chair on its raised dais, Glaukos scowled. ‘A king has duties.’

‘And many of those duties are given to people in the royal council, people I trust. My father had several advisers.’

‘Yet you took your master of trade with you!’

‘I needed him.’

A tall, lean man with neatly combed gray hair and patrician features, Dion’s chief adviser turned on his heel to glare at his nephew. ‘I hope it was worth it.’

‘Uncle, there was cause to be worried, and still is. These newcomers . . . I believe they truly are the descendants of Aleuthea.’

Glaukos snorted. ‘You’re not serious . . .’

‘I am.’ Dion refused to be intimidated. ‘I met their king. His name is Palemon, and he claims to be in direct lineage from the same Palemon who fought the eldren. His soldiers wear strange armor, and their weapons are unlike anything I’ve seen before. He conquered Malakai at the first attempt.’

‘Malakai is far from here.’ Glaukos shook his head. ‘And the population has long resented the yoke of Ilea. Your father would have been the first to tell you that conquering a city and keeping it are two very different things. Whoever this warlord is, he’ll soon be busy trying to hold on to his new kingdom. There is no way Kargan of Ilea will let it stand.’

‘Palemon isn’t going to stop with Malakai.’

‘So his army is that powerful?’ Glaukos finally stopped pacing. ‘How many are they?’

‘Not big in number. But they have magic . . .’

‘Magic?’ Glaukos raised an eyebrow. ‘Bah. Listen to yourself.’

‘Enough, Uncle,’ Dion said through gritted teeth. ‘Let me just say that it pays to be prepared. There are many more Aleutheans than I saw. Palemon left them behind, somewhere across the sea, and will fight until he has a fleet to go back for them.’

He decided to leave unsaid that Palemon had wanted the Liberty to be the first member of his new fleet.

‘He sounds like a man with many problems, and even more delusions.’

‘If you’d been there, you might understand,’ Dion said. ‘At any rate, I plan to double our naval patrols and post a heavy guard on the fleet at night.’

‘For how long? It will cost us.’

‘For as long as necessary.’

The two men glared at each other, and then Glaukos relented. ‘You are the king. You must do what you think is necessary.’

With an effort of will, Dion regained his composure. ‘Speaking of the kingdom. What have I missed?’

Glaukos took a deep breath. ‘The Blackwell Mines.’

Dion’s lips thinned. This wasn’t going to be good. ‘Go on.’