Kellen’s eyebrows lowered as he stared at Rosem. “I may go to Hurog, Rosem. Indeed, it sounds as if, for the moment, that would be for the best. But if I go, it is not because I have been taken there.” The frightened prisoner shaking in the water had given way to a man who had been raised as royalty.

Forged indeed,I thought, pleased.

“There are problems with Hurog,” said Tosten. “You ought to know that the keep is in the process of being rebuilt. If the king discovers where you are, the walls will not hold him out.”

Or at least the gates won’t,I thought, remembering how little time it had taken Jakoven’s men to open them.

Suddenly Kellen smiled. “I have to admit that part of the reason I’m inclined to go to Hurog is to see it for myself.” He turned to me. “Rosem kept me informed about things, and I heard much of what happened when you brought the walls down on the Vorsag.”

“If we can manage it,” said Duraugh slowly, “we can pull a lot of the lords of Shavig behind your standard while you are at Hurog. If the Hurogmeten follows you, they will as well.”

“You assume I want the throne, then?” Kellen said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Everyone froze—even Tisala, who’d been staying out of the conversation by sipping her tea, halted mid-sip.

“No,” I replied sharply, when it appeared no one else would. “We assume that you will do as you were born to do: protect your people as Jakoven has failed to do. But if your time in the Asylum has rendered you unfit to rule, I would rather you stop now than continue what your brother has begun.”

Oreg stared into the night, smiling at nothing.

Rosem put his hand on his sword and would have stepped between us had not Kellen put a hand on Rosem’s shoulder. “Peace, old friend, he’s right.” Kellen nodded respectfully to me. “Locked up in a cell,” he said, “it’s too easy to forget what I have been fighting for. I want everyone here to understand what that means, though. Rather than injustice, there will be war. Civil war. Brother fighting against brother.” He gave an elegant hand movement that asked us to include himself in his last statement. “The ties that bind us together might be ruined forever, leaving the Five Kingdoms broken before her enemy’s sword. And, from what Alizon’s letters and messages have told me, we probably will not win. Make certain before we start what cannot be undone that Jakoven’s sins are such that they are worth the cost you will pay.”