“The king will wonder if we send Beckram off by himself tomorrow,” I said. “If we all leave Estian tomorrow, he won’t know we’ve sent Beckram ahead. We can camp on Menogue instead. No one goes there, so unless Jakoven sends out someone to track us, Menogue should be safe.”

Oreg’s nostrils flared white even in the dim light of the room. His memories of Menogue were not fond. “What of Aethervon?”

“It was the Tamerlain who allowed me to face Jakoven without the effects of his mages’ herbs. I think Aethervon will allow us refuge. The Tamerlain told me that there are a few people there now. It sounds as if Aethervon has been recruiting for some reason.”

“Don’t trust in the gods,” said Oreg.

“No,” I agreed. “I don’t expect him to help fight off Jakoven, but that shouldn’t be necessary. Jakoven will be planning a proper vengeance—pursuing us won’t be a priority until we break Kellen out.”

I yawned and Oreg shooed me back under the covers and I sent him to his own bed. I hadn’t slept much since my imprisonment in the Asylum, and I was too tired to stay awake any longer.

The dream started innocuously.I waited in a large chamber more grandiose even than the one the dwarves had devised at Hurog. My feet rested upon a deep-piled rug that covered a malachite inlaid marble floor.

The door in front of me opened and a pale-faced Tallvenish nobleman whom I recognized vaguely from court entered and fell to one knee before me.

“Ah,” I said. “So kind of you to answer my summons promptly. You told me once of a Hurog-born whore that you frequented.”

“Yes, sire,” he agreed. “She died a while back.”

There was no servility in his voice, and I decided it might be necessary to teach him better—but for now I had a use for him. “She had a child by the old Hurogmeten.”

“So she claimed, sire. The Hurogmeten certainly visited her a time or three, sire. I saw him there myself.”

“A Hurog boy bred back to Hurog should concentrate the blood,” I murmured to myself before turning my attention back to my informant. “How old would the child be now?”

The man looked blank for a moment. “I don’t know, sire. He was ten, maybe, when I saw him last.”

A boy,I thought, excellent.I liked boys.

The thoughts that accompanied my words woke me and sent me dry-heaving into the chamber pot next to the bed. I sat on the cool floor and sweat ran down my back.