“Hardly. They entered casually enough, after Raj Ahten left. They played at being candlemakers and weavers, bringing in goods to display to the Duchess. But they hid daggers beneath the candles, and chain mail beneath folds of cloth.

“Raj Ahten had only two hundred loyal soldiers here, and those young lads—well, they handled the situation.”

“Where are they now?”

“Dead,” Captain Tempest said, “all dead. They broke into the Dedicates’ Keep and killed half a dozen vectors. That’s when the rest of us joined the fray. It wasn’t easy.”

Orden nodded thoughtfully.

“Captain Tempest, I suppose you know why my men and I have come?” It was a delicate subject, but Orden needed to know if Tempest had captured the forcibles, moved them from Bredsfor Manor. Though he’d sent a man to find them, Orden didn’t want to be kept waiting, especially if he waited only for bad news.

The captain stared up at him, incurious. “You heard we were under attack?”

“Yes,” Orden said, “but that is not why I came. All of Heredon is under attack, and I’d have preferred to bend my efforts to freeing Castle Sylvarresta. I came for the treasure.”

“Treasure?” Captain Tempest asked. His eyes widened. Almost, Orden believed the man knew nothing about it. But he didn’t quite trust that response. Tempest was working too hard to control his emotions, to show no reaction.

“You know what I’m talking about?”

“What treasure?” Tempest asked, with no hint of deception in his eyes.

Had the Duchess kept the existence of the forcibles hidden even from her own aide-de-camp? Orden had expected so, had hoped so.

“You knew the Duke was a forger, didn’t you?” Orden asked. He let just a little of the power of his Voice slide into the question, in a tone that would elicit guilt.

“No!” Tempest protested, but his eyes flickered, and his pupils contracted.

The dishonest, miserable cur, Orden thought. The man lies to me now. When I asked about treasure, he thought I spoke of the gold blanks in the treasury. Truly, he had not heard of Raj Ahten’s forcibles. That interested Orden.

So the Duchess had not trusted Tempest. Which meant Orden could not trust him, either.

King Orden forged ahead with a half-truth. “King Sylvarresta sent a message, saying the Duchess had overthrown Raj Ahten’s forces here, and she had hidden or buried a treasure here in the castle. Have you seen signs of digging hereabout? Has anyone recovered the treasure?”

Tempest shook his head, eyes wide. Orden felt sure Tempest’s men would be digging within the hour.

“Who did the Duchess trust most? Who would she have had bury the treasure?”

“The chamberlain,” Tempest said quickly.

“Where is he now?”