Mellony somehow managed to look both guilty and thrilled. Unconsciously, she reached down and stroked Micah’s hair as if it were a talisman. She’d never hoped to be queen, Amon thought. She likes the idea. And she knows in her secret heart that it will win her Micah.

“Is it really so urgent?” Amon said finally, trying to sound as if this were interesting news that had little to do with him. “It seems like you have a little time before Montaigne regroups. The siege of Tamron Court must have taken a toll. And if he wants to march through the mountains, he’ll have to wait for better weather. As far as I know, he has no experience with mountain warfare.”

“And yet you just said that you returned home because of the risk Montaigne poses,” Lord Bayar said, pouncing on Amon’s words like a trout on a fly. You can’t have it both ways, his expression said. “I don’t think it’s wise to underestimate Montaigne. Look what happened to the Tomlins.”

“I can see why you would not want to leave the throne vacant for long,” Amon said. “But what happens if the Princess Raisa returns at a later time?” He could feel Micah Bayar’s black-eyed gaze on him.

Lord Hakkam shrugged. “There is no provision to…rearrange matters should that happen,” he said. “You must admit, it was irresponsible of her to run off like that, without a word to anyone.”

That was either brave or foolhardy on Hakkam’s part, to call the princess heir of the realm irresponsible. Still, Amon could see how the nobility would take a dim view of Raisa’s disappearance. They’d not been told that it had been precipitated by the prospect of a forced marriage to a wizard. They’d likely been told that Raisa’d had a spat with the queen and stormed off in a huff. The Gray Wolf line was known to be headstrong. Look at Hanalea.

Amon knew that was all he could do, to try to raise a doubt, to try to slow things down. But why would they tell Amon Byrne about their plans for the coronation? Unless—if Raisa still lived, and Amon knew where she was, they would expect him to rush back and tell her. And that might flush their quarry before she could cause real trouble.

So he sat, saying nothing, waiting to be dismissed, wondering what to say to Raisa, and how to prevent his own headstrong queen from doing something foolhardy.

“Queen Mellony will need a captain of her guard,” Lord Bayar said, wrenching him back to the present.

Oh.

Queen Mellony. The sound of it made Amon’s skin itch.