He hated her. In that moment, when he knew what he had to do and choked on the knowledge, he hated her.

But making a choice, he stepped across the boundary of that small battleground. “If you want to draw the line, you do that,” he told the Warlord. “But you won’t be meeting her. You’ll be meeting me on the killing field.”

“And me.” Ranon dropped the sight shield as he moved to guard Cassidy’s left side, his Shalador blade flashing in the sun.

“Us,” Archerr said, flanking the three Warlords.

More sight shields were dropped. More blades flashed in the sun.

Except for Powell and Talon, the whole First Circle was there.

*How . . . ?Theran asked Ranon.

*Vae called us.*

The bitter anger in Ranon’s thoughts made it plain that he thought the First Escort should have been the one to call the court to the Queen’s defense.

Which was true.

“I need Shira here,” Cassidy said, glancing at Ranon.

“I’m here. Drop your shield, Cassidy, so I can get to the girl.”

More shields. Layers of them going up in front of Cassidy and curving around to close off the area where the landen family huddled.

Layers of shields formed by the Warlord Princes who served Cassidy.

But not the Green. His strength wasn’t needed, and if he added it now, it would feel like a lie.

“You can drop your shield now, Lady,” Ranon said.

The Rose shields behind Cassidy vanished. Shira rushed over to the girl, who was still wailing.

“Let me have a look.” Shira pulled the girl’s hands away from her face. “I’m a Healer. I’m going to help—”

“Shira?” Cassidy said.

“Hell’s fire,” Shira said. Then she looked at the girl’s mother. “Give me a hand. Come on, darling. Come back here with us.” She hustled the girl to the back of the family’s space, where they had a canopy for shade and a small table and chairs.

“Shira?” Cassidy said.

“Let me work!”

It’s bad, Theran thought, remembering other Healers who had that particular tone in their voices.

“That Healer should be looking after my arm, not some slut’s face,” the older Warlord said.

“If he’s the one who threw the stone, I’ll be happy to take care of his arm,” Shira said. “And I promise there won’t be much left of it when I get done.”

All the men, even Ranon, looked startled by the words. Cassidy just nodded.

“Well,” the older Warlord said,“I guess it’s done. We’ll be on our way.”

“It isn’t done,” Cassidy said. “Everything has a price, and your little bit of sport is going to cost you.”

“Now, look here . . . ,” the Warlord began, taking a step toward Cassidy.

Blades were raised in warning. Cassidy and Vae bared their teeth and snarled.

“What is the Queen’s will?” Theran asked.