“Have you gone deaf? I said kill my wives.”

“All your wives?” The men’s eyes widened.

The duke waved a hand. “Never mind. Xivan, they’re yours.”

Some women cowered or broke out in tears. A few fainted, this time for real. The rest stood straight and defiant.

Qown wondered if those were the ones who had worshipped at their homemade altar to the witch-queen. Veixizhau stood in this last category.

The duke noticed this. “You have something to say to me?”

Veixizhau shook her head. “Not a word, my lord.”

Xivan looked curiously displeased for someone who’d brought the matter to the duke’s attention in the first place. She cast her eyes about the room as if searching for any other recourse but didn’t seem willing to defy the duke’s ruling. When the guards stepped forward to escort the wives, she stepped aside.

“Wait!” Janel cried out.

Duke Kaen turned. “Yes?”

“I plead for mercy.”

Brother Qown bit down on his fingers to keep from shouting at her. He felt torn between concern and pride.

The hall fell silent once more.

Duke Kaen tilted his head. “What did you say?”

“I plead for mercy, Your Grace.” Janel pointed to the chest. “How are we to know who was involved with that? Your wives aren’t the only ones with permission to enter those quarters. Senera didn’t need permission to enter. Can Wyrga come and go as she wishes?”

That made Kaen pause. “Yes.”

Behind him, Wyrga made horrible faces but didn’t speak.

“So perhaps the reason your wives couldn’t answer your question is because they didn’t know the answer.”

“Are you forgetting Veixizhau tried to kill you? Sacrifice you to a dead goddess? She at least is quite guilty. And no one tried to stop her either. None of my ‘wives’ called for the guards. And let’s be clear: more than my wives conspired in this. Darzin D’Mon and Sir Oreth are implicated at minimum, and then they involved my son. They’d have seen you dead and smiled at themselves for a job well done.”

Janel’s face set into a stubborn cast. “I seek clemency for your wives,” she repeated. “Even if a few wives knew what Veixizhau planned, they couldn’t all have known. I ask Xivan to spare them.”

Xivan stepped forward. “Spare them? Why?”

Qown asked himself the same question. Not that he wanted to see them executed, but Janel seemed to have something specific in mind.

Janel turned to Xivan. “Because they’re prisoners. Because they’ve spent years living in a fine gold cage, and the only power they’ve ever had is what they hoped to gain by capturing one man’s attention. Is it any wonder these women thought their only recourse was to eliminate competition?”