So I seated myself between Kellen’s seat and the one Rosem had taken.

Kellen gestured toward the tunnel we would travel down. “Even one person knowing about this is too many.” He spoke softly, but not so quietly that Axiel didn’t overhear.

“Only the dwarves can take vessels through here. In another couple of weeks the spells will be finished, and only a man of dwarvenblood who bears the mark of the king will be able to cross the wards and let anyone here. Then it won’t matter who knows,” said Axiel.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

“Why do you think the Council allowed you access?” he asked, checking to see that Rosem and Kellen were fastened in properly. “They knew they had the ability to control what uses you put our ways to.”

“You mean that you control it,” I pointed out.

Axiel smiled slowly. “Ah, but they think that is the same thing.”

“Meaning it isn’t?” asked Kellen.

Axiel grinned at Kellen companionably. “Meaning that I trust Ward somewhat more than my father’s Council does.” He stepped past me to check the next pair of seats.

“Ward,” said Kellen, in a pleasantly casual voice that carried no further than Rosem, who occupied the seat on the other side of me. “Your Shavigmen made it clear that they follow you, not me. You have the dwarves and the dragons as your allies. And you have the eye of Haverness’s daughter. The Old Fox would throw away Callis for his daughter if he could. So why don’t you take my brother’s throne for yourself?”

I choked. “Gods save me from that fate, begging your pardon. Except possibly for the bit about Tisala.” The thought of being responsible for all of the Five Kingdoms made me blanch. “It’s enough to care for my own folk, let alone all of yours. No, thank you very much.”

He shifted. “I’m afraid I need a better reason than that, Ward.”

“Well, then,” I said, “the kingdoms of Tallven, Avinhelle, and Seaford would never stand for a Shavig High King. Nor would Oranstone—they think we’re barbarians.”

There was safety in the truth of my words. If I’d been in Kellen’s position, I’d be looking for someone else to throw the Five Kingdoms to, and I was grateful it couldn’t be me.

“Then why not let Shavig be independent under you,” he said. “You could demand it as a price for your support.”

I shook my head, relaxing against the side of Rosem’s seat as if I hadn’t noticed that his hand was on the haft of his knife. Rosem worried that I’d take offense, since Kellen was all but accusing me of treachery. But I’d been expecting this conversation since the night the Council agreed to follow Kellen.

Because that night, I’d discovered that my uncle was right; I did have power.