“No, sir king. You should have her ruling on this before you tell him—or at the very least tell him you have applied to her. This is a matter of command. She heads the entire Fellowship of Gird. Whatever comes out of Fin Panir will have authority; Marshals in Tsaia will align themselves with her, including High Marshal Seklis. When you have a command problem—when you need a decision—go to the top.”

“But the High Marshal will feel I did not respect him. And the Marshal-Judicar—”

“No, sir king. When they think about it, they will realize that any decisions about magery appearing in the Tsaian peerage cannot be made in Tsaia … not without bending the Code of Gird to breaking point. The Marshal-General will have a broader view. Because if magery can appear in a family where it has not been known for generations, who is to say it cannot appear in Fintha as well? In any family, anywhere?”

“That thought terrifies me,” the king said. “What if—what if my hand suddenly gives light? What if a trooper in the Royal Guard? A merchant? Or—though surely Gird would prevent it—a Marshal?”

“Exactly,” Dorrin said. “Did not the magelords sire children on their peasants in the old days?”

The king nodded. “But nothing has happened until now,” he said. “Why now?”

“I don’t know,” Dorrin said. “But there will be a reason.”

“I wondered if it was you,” the king said. “I wondered if you had awakened magery in Beclan—but you haven’t been near Camwyn.”

“I have awakened no magery in my other squires,” Dorrin said. “Nor in my soldiers, in all those years, nor in my household here.”

“Could it be the regalia?” the king asked. “But no—it has talked to me, but nothing has happened to me as it has to Camwyn.”

“I thought maybe it was the dragon,” the prince said.

“The dragon?” Dorrin looked from one to the other.

The king sighed and put his head in his hands. “A dragon came, in the guise of a man—”

“And said his name was Camwyn,” the prince said.

“Yes. Sir Camwyn. He came from Count Arcolin’s domain with Sergeant Stammel because of the gnomes—do you know about that?”

“A little,” Dorrin said. “The dragon who stopped the scathefire in Lyonya visited Arcolin and went off with Stammel, who was blinded in the south. Arcolin gave the gnomes rock-right, according to Girdish law.”

“Yes. That dragon. Camwyn—” He looked at his brother. “Cam’s always been fascinated by his namesake, and begged the dragon for a ride.”

“Did you touch tongues?” Dorrin asked the prince.

“We both did,” the king said. “I, to seal the bargain: I agreed to the gnomes having rock-right and would not dispute the land the dragon took from Tsaia. Camwyn, so he could ride in the dragon’s mouth.”