He dropped the glass and I watched it shatter, the harmless water spilling across the floor. I released my charm as he turned, finding me instantly sitting in the chair against the wall.

“Miss Neven,” he said, and he somehow managed to sound pleased to see me. Although he was an exquisite pretender. “You have taken me by surprise.”

“Forgive me, Your Grace. I thought it best that I give you warning.”

“And who seeks to poison me?” he asked, glancing down at the puddle.

“I will tell you, but only if you honestly answer two of my questions first.”

He laughed, a deep robust sound. “Very well, Miss Neven. Come, why don’t you take a seat next to me, and we can share what little bread and meat I have remaining, unless it is poisoned as well?”

I rose and joined him at the table, but I declined the meal. “Your food is safe, but I’m not hungry.”

He nodded but seemed to hesitate before breaking the brown loaf. “Ask your first question, Miss Neven.”

I waited until he had taken a bite. “Do you want the new moon curse to end?”

“Of course I do,” he answered, but he spoke too swiftly. “The nightmares have haunted us long enough in Bardyllis. My people are weary of them. They are a great inconvenience every month.”

“Even if the dream tax fills your coffers?”

He narrowed his eyes at me but took another bite of bread. “That tax not only serves the betterment of the land, but pays magicians like you, Miss Neven. Do you want to do such dangerous work for free?”

“Wardens deserve to be paid,” I said. “But the tax on dreams is excessive and unnecessary.”

“I suppose that means you are in favor of breaking this curse, Miss Neven,” he stated. “At the cost of losing your profession and income.”

“I’m in favor of breaking it,” I replied.

I had never imagined I would find myself in the throes of ending the new moon curse, and the duke was right—to see it broken would change my way of life. But I wanted the mountain duchy to be restored. I wanted the realm to be healed. I wanted my father and Imonie to feel less like wraiths and more like humans again.

I wanted to do something beyond fighting nightmares, moon after moon, trapped in a vengeful cycle.

“Then that settles your first question,” he said. “Ask your second.”

“Who do you support when it comes to new sovereignty?”

“Ah, we have at last reached the meat of the matter,” the duke said, and as if to make a point, speared the roast with his fork. “This is not easily answered, Miss Neven. There are many factors at play.”

“Such as?”