Morgan gestured urgently toward his captive with the tip of his blade as he edged toward the door, and Duncan nodded. Before the man could react, Duncan slipped alongside him and touched his forehead, giving a low-voiced command. The man’s eyes took on a faraway look, and he dropped his hands to his sides, no longer trying to resist.

“You did not see me,” Duncan whispered, looking the man deeply in the eyes. “You saw only the prince and His Grace. Do you understand?”

The man nodded slowly.

Duncan dropped his hand and edged toward the balcony doors, nodding to Morgan as he did so. The man would say nothing of his presence now; of that he was certain. It would have been rather difficult to explain just how he happened to be in this room at this hour.

As Morgan shot back the bolt on the door, slipping his stiletto back into its wrist sheath, he heard a low moan come from Kelson’s corner of the room—a reassuring sign that the boy was coming around. He stepped back into the center of the room as the door burst open, and mentally sent strength and confidence in Kelson’s direction as the room filled with armed men.

A guard captain—the same as in the garden earlier that afternoon—glanced swiftly around the room as his men took custody of Morgan’s prisoner, then stalked up to Morgan, sword raised in menace.

“Stand where you are, General, and drop your sword,” he said, the tip of his blade following Morgan’s every move. “Where is His Majesty?”

Morgan did not need to look around to know that he was surrounded and badly outnumbered. With an apologetic shrug, he let his weapon fall to the floor, then turned and stepped back to where Kelson lay. No one tried to stop him as he crouched at the boy’s side.

“Are you all right, my prince?” he asked, helping Kelson to his feet.

The young king nodded weakly and steadied himself on Morgan’s arm. “I’m perfectly all right,” he murmured, breathing deeply to steady his wits. “I’m just not used to being attacked in my sleep.”

His gaze flashed around the room, quickly assessing the situation, and he instinctively sensed that the truth was better not told at this point. These men would never understand. Right now, following Morgan’s lead seemed the best plan.

He took another deep breath, then turned boldly to the guard captain. “How did those men get in here, Captain?”

The captain went immediately on the defensive. “I don’t know, Sire. Evidently, they overpowered the guard outside. There are three dead, and at least four others gravely wounded.”

Kelson nodded, for what had happened was fairly evident now. “I see. And who are our assailants, Morgan?”