“I hope you sharpened that thing,” she told him as he stepped between her and the sun, shading her face with his shadow. “I’d hate to have you make a mess.”

The princess lay still then, going so far as to hold her breath.

The executioner raised the ax and with a fluid swing brought it down onto the stump a foot to the side of Farilane’s neck. No one moved. No one spoke.

“You missed,” Vicross finally said.

Farilane let out a sigh of relief. “Welcome to the realm of unexpected possibilities.”

The executioner tugged off the hood and smiled down at her. “I never answered your questions. I felt bad about that.”

“Who is this?” Vicross asked.

Farilane lifted her head off the stump. “My scribe.”

“Your what?”

“Kile,” Farilane said, “these nice gentlemen are going to kill me.”

Kile shook his head with a sad expression. “I regret to inform you, Your Highness, that you are wrong.”

Farilane pushed out her lower lip. “I have to admit I’m not terribly disappointed.”

“I’ll do it,” the first prymus, formerly known as Ekles, said as he pushed forward. “I’ll kill them both.” He paused as Kile took a firmer hold on the ax. “Or do you plan on fighting me, little man?” He grinned with confidence. “Do you plan on fighting all of us?”

“I’d be careful, prymus,” Farilane warned him. “I have strong evidence that the person before you is very likely a god, and not just in bed.”

Kile blinked as his brows rose in shock.

“Sorry,” Farilane said. “I guess I’m just really happy to see you.”

From under their tunics, Lars and the first prymus pulled daggers.

“Wouldn’t do that,” Kile said. He still held tight to the ax, but not in a threatening manner.

Vicross laughed. “We have five hundred men surrounding you.”

A familiar voice came from behind the ring of soldiers. “Won’t be enough.”

Not entirely a surprise, the sound of Kolby’s voice washed over her like sunshine after a raging storm. She had made a number of assumptions and guesses, but none of them were a certainty until she heard him speak.

“Stand down, all of you!” he shouted.

“By what authority?” Vicross asked. “We are here on the orders of the emperor.”

“Technically, there is no emperor yet,” Farilane said. “My father hasn’t been crowned.”

Vicross glared at her, then transferred it to Kolby. “Again, I ask, by what right are you interfering here?”

“We serve to protect the emperor and his family—even from the emperor and his family,” Enzio Edon replied from the opposite side of the ring, causing heads to turn and faces to darken.

“It’s part of our code,” Cedric Oslow declared from off to the right.

“The don’t-be-an-idiot part,” Ransara Soto shouted from the left. Throughout the crowd, men threw off cloaks to reveal dragon emblems.