The kirgan grinned. “As it is a royal order—”

“It is.”

“I obey with pleasure.” And he was gone, intercepting three who had been heading for their corner, no doubt to flirt with Kieri.

“What do you think of her?” Sier Halveric said, with a nod to the lady of Pargun.

“A good choice,” Kieri said. “If she does nothing overt, we can’t kill her. She’s obviously intelligent, and as people trust an old woman with her personality, they will tell her everything we wish they would not. She will go home stuffed with information like a southern date with chopped nuts. We can do nothing about that but note who talks most.”

“I’m still worried about your safety.”

“True, old ladies don’t fear death,” Kieri said. “If she wanted me dead—and she might—she would not hesitate to strike though it meant her own end. But I think her plots are subtler than that. She wants to know me, and take word back to Pargun of my weaknesses. It will be an interesting few days.”

“If she asks a private audience—”

“Alas, my time is already committed, since I did not know she was coming, and I cannot ask one of those already promised an audience to yield to her.”

“Thank the gods for that much,” Halveric murmured.

“You’re really worried,” Kieri said.

“Yes. Perhaps the Lady will know why.”

The Kostandanyan envoy bustled up and Kieri greeted him; Sier Halveric slipped away. Count Arpad began the chat with a question about the two Kostandanyan mercenary commanders Kieri had known in Aarenis—such different personalities. Kieri agreed: Sofi Ganarrion, flamboyant and socially ambitious, had been nothing like Count Visan Vladiorhynsich, grim and controlled. Arpad went on: And the Ganarrion girl marrying a southern noble, was that true?

“Sofi was trying to arrange it, but I hadn’t heard lately.”

“Well. You know what he claims—”

Kieri nodded. Sofi had dropped hints many times of his royal connections. Arpad talked on, finally bringing the conversation around to Alured the Black, the pirate-turned-forest-brigand-turned-ally who now claimed to rule a third of Aarenis.

“He’s a very ambitious man, Alured,” Kieri said. His mind wandered to Arcolin, now in Alured’s reach with only one cohort. Would he remember how dangerous Alured was?

“You’ve met him, then.”

“Oh, yes. Much younger than I, with a gift for command but also for cruelty.”

“No danger to us in the north, of course, but for alliances,” the envoy said.

“I would not be too sure,” Kieri said. “I deem Alured dangerous, wherever he may be.”

“Then surely it is unwise for any blood close to ours to become involved down there.” The envoy stopped and gave Kieri a meaningful glance.

Kieri stifled a chuckle. “What cause have you to interfere?” he asked instead, though he began to see what might be coming. “If her father approves—”

“We are supposed to give permission—”

Admission enough that Sofi’s occasional boasts were probably true.

“But I’m sure if someone with a more illustrious title were to offer for her—” the envoy went on.