Did he look like he didn’t have marks to spare?

“It’s customary,” Sylvia added, showing more understanding than he liked.

The men opened up a space for him but not in a way that would allow him to get within reach of Lady Sylvia.

Accepting the dismissal and wanting to get away from the village, he started to turn back toward the Hall, then swore loudly when he got nipped.

*This way, Theran. This way!*

Not daring to do anything else, he let himself be herded down the main street with the Sceltie trotting a step behind him, ready to nip at his heels.

Mother Night, it was humiliating—and him a Warlord Prince!

*Sheep brains,* Vae said, finally trotting alongside him.

“What?”

*You made those males angry. You act like you have sheep brains. Foolish.*

“I didn’t do anything!” He kept his voice low, but he’d be damned if he’d swallow being scolded by a dog.

*You did. You made them angry. They do not fight for no reason.*

They didn’t have a reason. Not really. Sure, he’d expressed an opinion of sorts, and he wouldn’t have if he’d caught Sylvia’s psychic scent first. But, Hell’s fire, she didn’t look like a Queen with that hair and the shirt and trousers and . . .

He was making excuses for himself. He hadn’t been careful, and if Vae hadn’t amused them all, he wouldn’t be strolling through the village. He’d be wounded—or dead.

He hadn’t survived in Dena Nehele by being careless. He couldn’t afford to set aside all the things Talon had taught him just because he didn’t have a clear sense of the battlefield. And he couldn’t afford to forget that the power that had devastated Terreille had come from Kaeleer.

So he walked and he watched. Children tensed at the sight of a stranger, then relaxed again when they saw Vae. Clearly the dog was a signal he didn’t understand. He didn’t approach, didn’t talk to them, but he saw a pattern when he passed a group of children—the boys stepped forward, creating a shield between him and the girls.

“The men who were angry,” Theran said. “Were they all members of the Queen’s court?”

*They live in the village,* Vae replied. *They serve.*

“But were they court?”

No, I do not think any of them were court.*

“Then why did they do that?”

Vae stopped walking and looked at him. *It is their right to defend.* She turned her head and sniffed the air. *There is food.*

I guess one of us wants to eat.

Whatever the usual rule about animals being inside a dining house, the young witch who greeted them took one look at Vae, tipped her head as if in private conversation, then settled them at a table next to the windows.