“This way, then.” Dorrin led him upstairs to her own apartment, now set aside for his use; she had had a bath prepared, and it lacked only another can of hot water should he desire it. She left him with his squires to attend him and showed the others to the chambers prepared for guests.

The king came down in lighter clothes, only a short rose-colored cape around his shoulders with the deeper red rose of Mahieran embroidered on the back. “Now I’m hungry,” he said, rubbing his hands.

The long table was laid in the front hall for the midday meal: platters of sliced meats, loaves of bread, fresh greens from the garden, the earliest fruits of the year. They set to eagerly, their talk initially all of the journey.

“I cannot believe,” the king said finally, “that I’ve never been so far from Vérella before. I understand why my guardians did not want me traveling around. Some of them did not trust the former duke here, and that was, as it turned out, wise. I don’t imagine that had I visited here as a prince, I would ever have come out alive. But being away from the city and the palace—not just on Mahieran estates or the royal hunting preserve—has already taught me a great deal.”

“You came to Marrakai once as a small boy,” Duke Marrakai said. “You might not remember—”

“I don’t … not for certain—”

“And that’s west of Vérella, not east. I have never been here either, my lord. I see you have worked on the track from Harway.”

“I had to,” Dorrin said with a laugh. “When I first came, it was nearly impassable near the border—intentionally. It is not yet as smooth for wagons as I could wish. But the old Middle Trade Road—that I spoke of, sir king—will be the main road someday. My kirgan and I have been alternating in the supervision of that construction.”

“Is the purpose trade?” Duke Marrakai asked.

“Yes, primarily, though the king’s forces need an interior route to move troops as well. There was no way to get our products to market or resupply here but by pack train. Isolation suited the former duke, but it does not suit me.”

“That old road is on the oldest maps in our library,” High Marshal Seklis said. “What do the Lyonyans think about it?”

“King Kieri favors it,” Dorrin said. “I believe he expects to start work on it from Chaya next year. This year he wants to work on the River Road. The middle road would be shorter and serviceable in seasons the River Road is a morass from floods. If my neighbors to the west agree.”

“I will make that case to the count involved,” the king said. “Will you want to found a town on its way through Verrakai lands, or will it come near this house?”