The element of surprise was already gone. With a decisive motion, Nigel slipped the latch and let the gate swing open. For an instant, he stood silhouetted against the doorway. Then he glided into the chamber to confront the queen.

“Jehana.” He nodded.

The queen dropped her gaze uneasily and studied the flagstones at her feet. “I—I’d rather not talk to anyone just now, Nigel. Can’t it wait?”

“I don’t think so. May we be alone?”

Jehana’s lips tightened as she glanced up at her brother-in-law, then at her attendants. Lowering her gaze again, she realized she was shredding the stem of the rose in her hand, and she dropped it in irritation. She carefully folded her hands in her lap before allowing herself to reply.

“I have nothing to say to you that can’t be said in the presence of my ladies, Nigel. Please. You know what I have to do. Don’t make it any more difficult for me than it already is.”

When he did not reply, she looked up tentatively. Nigel had not moved. His gray eyes glittered dangerously beneath the shock of thick, black hair, like Brion in his darker moods. He stood resolute, threatening, thumbs hooked in his sword belt, staring at her in complete silence.

She turned away.

“Nigel, don’t you understand? I don’t want to discuss it. I know why you’ve come, and it won’t do you any good. You can’t change my mind.”

She sensed rather than saw him moving closer, felt his cloak brush her hand as he leaned down.

“Jehana,” he whispered low, so that only she could hear, “I intend to make this as difficult for you as is humanly possible. Now, if you don’t send your ladies away, I’ll have to. And that might be embarrassing for both of us. I don’t think you really want to discuss your plans for Morgan in front of them—or how Brion died.”

Her head jerked up. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t I?”

She measured his gaze unwaveringly for several heartbeats, then turned away resignedly and gestured to her ladies.

“Leave us.”

“BUT, Morgan, I don’t understand. Why would she do a thing like that?”

Morgan and Kelson were walking along the outskirts of the boxwood maze, approaching a broad reflecting pool in the center of the main gardens. As they walked, Morgan kept a surreptitious watch for intruders, but no one seemed interested in their movements.

Morgan glanced at Kelson, then smiled. “You ask why a woman does something, my prince? If I fully understood that, I’d be powerful beyond my wildest dreams. After your mother discovered my Deryni background, she never gave me a chance to try.”

“I know.” Kelson sighed. “Morgan, what did you and Mother quarrel about?”

“You mean most recently?”

“I suppose so.”