He glanced back over his shoulder, then returned his gaze to her eyes. “Why don’t you show me the bedroom, Magda, and I will make clear to you one of your many uses to me.”

Magda could feel the blood rush to her face. She worked to control her voice. Yelling at him was not going to get her to the bottom of what this was really all about.

“You’re a powerful man. You can have your pick of most any women. A few of them might even be willing; the rest you can easily afford. You don’t need me for that.”

His grin remained in place. “That may be true, but I would rather have you. The most unobtainable of all flowers is the most desirable, don’t you think? It would prove me the most worthy of any men at the Keep to win the widow of Baraccus as my wife.”

“I wasn’t aware that your self-confidence was so shaky.”

His smile finally departed, leaving a grim expression. “Self-confidence is not my problem; how people perceive me is. You see, having you as my wife would give me credibility as First Wizard. It would put people in mind of Baraccus. It would put us on the same plane. I would be his equal, and as his equal, I would have the same woman at my side.”

Magda gritted her teeth. “You are not the equal of Baraccus.”

He chuckled. “My dear, you will reconsider that after our first night in bed together.”

“Get out,” Magda growled through gritted teeth. She pointed through the open doorway. “Leave.”

His humor vanished as his pinched expression took on a vicious cast. He jabbed a beefy finger against her shoulder.

“Now you listen to me, Magda Searus. You’ve caused a lot of trouble here in the Keep, trouble that has spread down to the city. I don’t know why, but there are a lot of people who believe in you. You got everyone in a fearful uproar with your bloody show before the council session when you put your wild theories about dream walkers out where people could hear them.

“Far worse, though, are your disrespectful and despicable accusations against me. Improbable as it seems, those insulting charges brought by a nobody have caught the attention of many. Those accusations have found support and created divisions within the Keep. They have disgraced and discredited me in the eyes of some. Your allegations have made people less willing to trust me, to follow me.

“We are at war and you have created speculation, divisions, and suspicion when we instead need to be united. Your theories and fanciful notions have shaken people’s trust in the council’s wisdom and especially in my authority. You have undermined faith in me!