Disappointment. Despair. Bitterness. She felt those things flow around her. More than other men,Warlord Princes needed a relationship with a Queen to keep them mentally and emotionally balanced. All that power and lethal temper craved a leash. That was one reason so many bad Queens had come into power in this Realm. Once the good Queens were destroyed, the Warlord Princes gave their allegiance to whatever Queens were available—and became corrupted in the process. Or they held out, held themselves back from the very thing they needed, and served an ideal instead of a woman.

Not many men could do that—and she needed to remember that, in one way or another, all these men had done just that.

Disappointment. Despair. Bitterness.

And then a flare of hope.

Wary. Almost angry. But still hope.

She watched the Opal-Jeweled Warlord Prince nudge other men aside in order to stand before her and stare into her eyes.

She couldn’t tell if his skin was browned by the sun or if he had that coloring in common with Theran. Dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Mother Night.

She held the leash for this angry, wary man, and he knew it. Something about her called to him, and he couldn’t turn away from her without paying a desperately high price.

“Who do you consider Dena Nehele’s people?” the Warlord Prince asked.

The effort he was making to keep his voice neutral told her how important her answer was to him.

“Everyone who lives within the borders of this Territory,” Cassidy replied. “Landens as well as Blood.”

“What about the Shalador people?”

“Now is not the time for that, Ranon,” Theran snapped.

“Then when is the time, Grayhaven?” Ranon snapped back.

“Who are the Shalador people?” Cassidy asked.

“What’s left of a race who came from a Territory that no longer exists. We live on reserves in the southern part of Dena Nehele, land that was granted to us by the Gray Lady.” Ranon gave Theran a hostile look. “Land that’s been trimmed by the hand of every Queen who has ruled since Lia until there’s barely enough farmland to feed us and not enough healthy woodland to supply the game we need.”

“Now is not the time,” Theran said again, shifting into a fighting stance.

“Prince Theran is right,” Cassidy said as Ranon also shifted into a fighting stance. The odds were against Opal being able to win a fight with Green, but Warlord Princes who served in the same court could not be allowed to fight. “Now is not the time.”

She saw bitterness in Ranon’s eyes, but she pushed on. “What you have said deserves more thought and discussion than I can give it this morning. But we will discuss the concerns of your people, as well as the other people who live in Dena Nehele.”