“To say for myself? These events took me as much by surprise as I must suppose they took you. If you heard all and saw all, then you know as much as I do. In truth, you know far more, since you will have seen and heard all of his conversations, not just the ones with me. Not to mention the bedroom interruptions, and Lord Genia’s devoted and auntly rebraiding of your magnificent hair.”

The prince pressed the whip against her cheek, hard enough to make her blink as its knots ground against her skin. “It must be the viper that gives you this remarkable effrontery. We shall see how long you keep it up, now you are under my rule as a member of my personal household.”

She swallowed but couldn’t speak because of the pressure of the whip. His personal household! There was a threat she had no answer for. No answer but waiting for the means to escape and run.

After examining her face with a cruel intensity, he lowered the whip. “Answer my question, Deputy Courier.”

With long practice, she kept her tone cool and even. Never let them know how badly they’ve rattled you. “By your expression, Your Highness, I perceive there is something specific you wish me to say. Perhaps you can let me in on your thoughts. What it is you want.”

The whip twitched in his hand. She waited him out, pleased to see irritation flash across his face. Yet he didn’t strike.

After a silence, he walked to the northern window slot and looked out over the Pall, tapping the whip against his thigh, his back to her.

“I have gambled everything on this,” he remarked peevishly to the view.

“What have you gambled, Your Highness?”

He turned, his expression grim. “My life. Which makes yours forfeit. Yours, and that of the youth.”

A chill descended. It wasn’t that she feared death, for she’d seen too much of it to believe she could avoid death when it came for her. But not Kem. Not her beloved boy. Not yet. Not now.

She had to keep the prince focused on her. “Your Highness, do you mean to execute me?”

“Execute you! Of course not! You’re too valuable, surely sent my way by the will of the High Heavens.” He waved the whip toward the ceiling as if in salute to the all-seeing Heavens and their inexplicable workings. “You are the perfect weapon. I thought my hopes had been broken and scattered. Now, everything has changed. With your viper at my disposal, my path to the throne lies clear.”

Elen’s expression tightened with the impact of a fear so strong she couldn’t hide it. He was going to use her viper to assassinate whoever stood between him and the throne. Prince Astaylin? The crown prince? The emperor herself? She choked, too horrified to speak.