“I don’t give a damn.” He vanished the war blade. “Just get her out of Ebon Rih, or her life is forfeit.”

The man burst out crying.

Since there was nothing more to say, Lucivar walked out of the house and down the street. It was tempting to fly away, to let speed and height put distance between him and that house. But he walked down the street so the people in the other houses would see him, would know. He was the law in Ebon Rih, and nothing except his Queen’s command could change that.

“Prince?”

Lucivar stopped, turned toward the voice. A young man lingered in a carriageway between two of the houses. Decently dressed, but not from an aristo family. Probably a merchant’s son. “What can I do for you?”

“There was some talk . . .” He glanced down the street. “I mean . . . Roxie . . .”

“Has been exiled from Ebon Rih.”

The youngster closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

Lucivar choked back his temper. So. Here was one of Roxie’s victims. “She won’t bother you anymore.”

“But what about the others?” the young man asked, pleading.

“What others?” Lucivar snapped.

“We . . . Roxie and me . . . we only did it twice. Then she lost interest in me, said I wasn’t a good enough tumble for her to keep seeing me. But her friends started coming around to my father’s shop, and they wanted . . . expected . . .” Bitterness filled his eyes. “They said they’d heard I was an easy romp, and I should accommodate them the way I’d done for Roxie. But I’d cared for her, and I thought she cared . . .” His voice trailed off.

“Is your family standing by you?”

“Yes, sir. My father says caring enough to be intimate with a girl isn’t a mistake. My mistake was in caring for the wrong kind of girl. And Mother says all young men have a trip and stumble somewhere along the way, that I’ll be a better man for it.”

“But that doesn’t keep the other bitches from expecting you to drop your pants,” Lucivar said.

The young man hung his head. “No, sir.”