The Blue Guard would never have made such a mistake—but these men weren’t trained by my aunt. A harsh blow of a battle horn from beyond the walls stopped them, but they looked only in front, missing me entirely. If I hadn’t been so frightened by what I intended to do, I would have grinned. Standing head and sometimes shoulders above most people, I didn’t get overlooked very often.

Their ranks parted reluctantly and three men on horseback rode between them: troop commanders. The man nearest me was one of the king’s pet sorcerers riding a big piebald mare with blue eyes. Vanity on his part, I thought. He preferred not to share his real name and was known as Jade Eyes. I’d never met him, but I’d heard him described. His face was extraordinarily beautiful, but it was his eyes that clinched it. They were a pale green rarer for humans than his horse’s blue eyes were for a horse. The color stood out more in the context of the deep wine-red of his hair.

Beckram had told me that Jade Eyes was one of the king’s lovers, though that wasn’t the reason for his rank of king’s sorcerer. I could feel his power washing over me as he searched my home for something. Whatever it was, he did not find it. Not even the most powerful sorcerer in the Five Kingdoms could invade Hurog with magic, not as long as Oreg was here. I doubt Jade Eyes even knew he’d been stopped.

Most days, Oreg was just Oreg, and I took the power he had for granted. Only once in a great while, like when he fooled the king’s best sorcerer, did the knowledge of how good Oreg was awe me.

I turned my attention to the second of the two men. I did not know him, but, by the markings on his armor, he was one of the king’s generals.

The third man was Garranon. There was no mistaking the slender build and curly brown hair, even though he rode on the far side of the other two men. His presence surprised me.

For well over a decade he’d been the king’s favorite, until he chose to try to save his native Oranstone rather than cater to the king’s whims. I understood he was still a power in court, but Jade Eyes had mostly replaced him in the king’s bed.

I liked Garranon, which was odd, since he’d been the one to bring the original writ that robbed me of my home. But he’d had reason enough for it then. I did not like it that he’d come a second time.

When they’d ridden to the front of their army, the sorcerer and the general stopped—but Garranon rode his horse a few paces forward.