“Too many,” replied Tisala somberly. “And they all work for the king.”

“Where’s Tosten?” asked Oreg.

Beckram answered. “He was restless and decided to do some exploring. Since he took his harp with him, I imagine that means he’s going tavern hopping.”

“Oreg told me the king refused to let you see Ward,” said Tisala, taking a seat on an empty bench that spanned one wall of the room. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. It had been a long day.

“The king said he’d heard that Ward had recovered his wits and he wanted an expert opinion before he trusted such an important keep to a boy whose own father thought him to be addled,” said Duraugh.

Beckram snorted.

The door opened and Tisala opened her eyes to see Ward’s brother stroll in, his harp case slung over a shoulder.

“The king knows Ward is fine,” Tosten said, revealing he’d been listening for a while before entering. “Ward followed me to court the last two times I came, worried I was getting myself into trouble. I should never have told him that someone sounded me out—”

“Sounded you out?” asked Duraugh.

Tosten nodded and took a seat at the table, setting his case on the floor. “Someone told me Alizon had good things to say about me—it was before Jakoven moved against his brother, so the comment was safe enough. Then he asked me how my cousin was, wasn’t it terrible how an assassin killed Erdrick in the king’s garden and shouldn’t the king be doing something to ensure the safety of his loyal subjects . . . things like that. I sent him away—gently.”

“Who was it?” asked Beckram.

Tosten raised his eyebrows but didn’t answer. “I sent him away so that I wouldn’t have to know any more than I already did. When I told Ward about it, he worried that I was as likely to get attacked by one side as the other. When I wouldn’t stay at Hurog, he followed me here.” Tosten’s voice tightened, though his expression didn’t change. “He knew that flaunting himself in front of the court would force the king to either acknowledge him as Hurogmeten or move to fulfill the writ, and he used it to blackmail me into staying away from court.”

Duraugh nodded, but said, “Frankly, I’m surprised Jakoven didn’t just leave him be. Ward’s reputation since the Vorsag king died at Hurog should have made him politically invulnerable. Just how he managed to pull down Hurog around King Kariarn’s ears has been a well-kept secret—but everyone knows Ward was responsible.”