“I relinquished all claims to the dukedom, sir,” Kalen said irritably. “And Kance can insist that I am eligible for the throne after him and Khalad all he wants, but he needs to understand what official abdication means.”

General Lode coughed. “I presume, then, that you are to assist us in our war against Drycht?”

“Why is Drycht even here to begin with? And why has Kance sent no word to Kion or to the Yadoshans for assistance until the very last minute? He cannot imagine that sending out armies without aid would result in a victory. King Aadil is not known for his honor. Where is he, by the way? Still at the palace?”

“That is not entirely true, Kalen,” came an all-too-familiar voice as King Kance stopped before the daeva, taking his white horse in hand. His tone was how I remembered: soft, pleasant, quiet. “For one thing, I am not, as you can see, in the palace.”

• • •

“Are you a blithering fool?” Kalen exploded the instant we reached the Odalian encampment. His heartsglass had been a stormy mix of silver and blue, but he had reined in his anger until we were within the safety of the improvised garrison General Lode had constructed, away from any unexpected attacks by the Drycht. The azi had trotted after us, settling itself comfortably outside the Odalian defenses, one head keeping an eye on the fortifications while the other two watched the horizon intently.

“I did what I had to, Kalen.” King Kance had changed. He’d grown his hair longer, and he was thinner. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, more prominent than when I had last seen him. His skin was darker as well, like he’d been spending more time under the sun. He no longer made my heartsglass flutter like it had when I was a novice, but it hurt to see him all the same.

“I’ve had to make a few adjustments in the last few months.” King Kance didn’t look at me. In fact, he acted like I wasn’t even there at all. “We’ve caught more than our share of Drychta spies skulking about Odalia, which aroused my curiosity. Mithra’s Wall straddles the border between my kingdom and the Yadosha city-states, and all our information pointed to some secret goings-on there by our brothers of the south. Aadil is a crafty bastard; he’d sent a reconnaissance group at first, no more than four or five people, to infiltrate the mountain. But one of Lode’s patrols caught them. We sent several Deathseekers to back those soldiers, and fortunately, they were no match for us, though the survivors chose to kill themselves before we could interrogate them.