“Iynisin—”

“Yes, of course, iynisin—but they’re evil. Elves are—are the Elders, guardians of the green world.”

“They can be wrong,” Paks said. “Just like us. The Lady thought Kieri Phelan was unfit to rule.”

“You think they were wrong to build the elfane taig?”

Paks shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Neither did Arianya, but as Marshal-General she had a duty to the Fellowship; she must know right and wrong beyond the limits of the Code of Gird, to govern wisely. A chill ran down her back.

“Tell me everything you remember about that place and about the Lady,” she said.

When they reached Vérella, Arianya pointed out the Verrakai city house to Paks as they rode past. Though the street door was closed and the ground-floor windows shuttered, upstairs the blue-and-white-striped curtains waved gently in the breeze. A new staff had been fitted beside the front entrance, now bearing a small pennant with a small blue V on gray.

“Her house wards must have done that,” Arianya said. “She had no standard out at Midsummer.” They rode on to the palace gates—opened at once for the Marshal-General of Gird and a paladin. Arianya asked audience with the king, and within the turn of a glass had explained her request.

“If the necklace is royal regalia,” the king said, “how did part of it end up in a brigand’s lair so far away from the rest?” He led the way to the treasury, where the Verrakaien gifts were set apart from the rest. He opened the chest, then lifted out the items one by one, setting them on a table.

Arianya stared at the crown, the goblet, the contents of the box. “I can’t imagine any of the Verrakaien selling part of the set, but it certainly looks similar in design.”

“It could have been stolen,” Paks said.

“What bothers me,” Arianya said, “is the way the pieces seem … alive in some way. I saw that ring Duke Verrakai found under the floor. And you and she both say these things were controlled, somehow, by blood magery—that can’t be good. I wonder how dangerous it will be to bring the necklace and the others together.”

“Did the ring make the whole stronger?” Paks asked.

“Duke Verrakai didn’t say anything about that,” Arianya said. “She didn’t think it was evil in itself. Then again, she’s a magelord.” Arianya shook her head. “It’s annoying. All my life I’ve considered magelords inherently wicked—any with magery, at least—but I can’t see Dorrin that way.”

“I must know,” the king said. “One way or the other, I must know if it is part of the same set. If it is … would you sell it?”

“To you? Why would you want it? It’s not your regalia; you already have a crown.”

“I don’t know,” the king said. “I just feel that if it is part of the same set, they should be together. They’re not really mine, but for now I’m their guardian.”