The result of this all was that they would offer their children up without question. Different islands would host them at different ages, so that parents would not grow to love children. Children would never know their parents. The exact details the league never disclosed to her, and she never asked. Just the fact that she had allowed it was a close enough bond between them. It would hold, she believed, for generations, perhaps for another twenty-two, as had been the case with the original agreement Tinhadin had brokered. Did it ever trouble her conscience? Yes, but such, as she often reminded herself, was the burden of rule.

“I would expect nothing less from you, dear Dagon,” she said, making sure her courteous tone had a bite to it, “and you will get nothing less from me. Proceed.”

Sire Dagon nodded, his eyes half closed as if the words were music to him. “Queen Corinn, you must know by now that the league holds you in the highest regard. In truth, we haven’t held such complete faith in an Akaran for several generations. No insult to your ancestors intended, of course. It’s just that we find yours a remarkable reign, young though it is.”

“So full of promise,” Sire Neen slipped in, grinning. His teeth had been filed, not to points, but to roundness, each of them a gentle curve of measured uniformity. When Corinn looked at him she kept her gaze pinned to his forehead. His eyes had a dead quality to them, a reptilian flatness that she could not—and to some degree did not wish to—penetrate. She was not sure which of the leaguemen held greater rank, nor did she know where or how Sire Neen had served the league before taking over management of the Outer Isles project. They never offered the information, and she never asked.

Despite their claim of directness, a few minutes more passed with both men praising the peace she had brought, both of them sure that the empire would soon be more prosperous than ever in its history. Eventually, Corinn lifted her finger. “Please, you digress again. What are you really here to tell me or ask of me?”

The two leaguemen conferred with their eyes and seemed to conclude that the time had come. Sire Neen said, “There has been an unfortunate development. Recently, last fall to be precise, we sought intelligence about the Auldek.”

“Sought intelligence?”

“There has never been a more closed, maddeningly secretive people than the Lothan Aklun,” Sire Dagon said with no hint that his listener might find this complaint ironic coming from him. “As you know, the Lothan Aklun are to the Auldek what we are to you. They are not the market you trade with; they are simply the merchants who hold sway in the Other Lands.”

Corinn interrupted. “This was a detail the league was slow in divulging.”