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in
Henderonia.”
    “You’re leaving Medeisia?” I asked, the words
slipping free before I could stop them.
    Cadeyrn didn’t look at me, and I knew I’d
spoken out of turn.
    “In my absence, the dragon rex, Feras, will
send delegates in human form to sit upon this council, to rule in
my stead until such a time when a permanent ruler can be
decided.”
    Lochlen nudged me with his shoulder, his words
strange when he spoke. He’d switched to the dragon tongue. I
couldn’t speak the draconic language, but I’d learned to translate
most of it.
    “We can’t let them win this
disagreement with New Hope without us ,” he
whispered.
    If Sadeemia gained the upper hand from New Hope
without dragon and rebel involvement, Medeisia would lose esteem on
the council.
    “We request to join the delegation,” I called.
“There should be a Medeisian presence.”
    “Aye!” Daegan cried.
    “Aye!” Maeve agreed.
    “No—” Madden began.
    “You shall join us,” Cadeyrn interrupted. “We
leave in less than a week. The situation with New Hope must be
dealt with swiftly.”
    Yes, I
thought, before the civil war in Medeisia
begins.
    “I see a great puzzle,” the blind Artair said
suddenly. “Squares and men.” He frowned, his blank gaze on me.
“There are many surprises ahead.”
    His eerie, prophetic words rang through the
room.
    Cadeyrn was in a peculiar position, his
temporary leadership in Medeisia needed, his alliance with
Henderonia depending on Catriona’s safe return to Henderonia and a
healthy pregnancy, and his place in Sadeemia questionable while
Freemont remained comatose. Truth was, the prince needed to be in
several places dealing with more than one issue at a time which was
impossible.
    A great puzzle … squares and
men.
    A sudden thought struck me. Remember our chess games ,
Cadeyrn told me. The king is the most important piece in chess, but
it is also the weakest. The queen, however, is the most powerful.
It can be moved in any one straight direction.
    My gaze flicked to Catriona and then Cadeyrn.
The prince used to baffle me, but I was beginning to understand him
in ways I’d not understood him before. He knew politics, and he
knew war. I wasn’t sure what he intended yet, but he was going to
be using his queen. However, which queen? Was he planning to use
Catriona or me?
     
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    The palace was thrown into chaos, the
preparations for sea travel to Henderonia and New Hope no simple
task. There was no easy way to board a ship in Medeisia. The waters
around the cliffs near the sea were too tumultuous, the waves
violent, the sprays painful. It was as if the country and the ocean
were angry at each other. Boarding a ship safely meant crossing the
bottom of the Ardus into Sadeemia where the coastline was smooth
and tranquil.
    “I hate the sea,” Daegan murmured that first
evening after the council meeting, his shoulders
slumped.
    “Maybe it will be easier the second time,” I
soothed.
    We stood on a balcony at the school of scribes.
The sun was setting, throwing a spray of colors into the sky. The
wind was harsher than usual, tugging our hair into the
air.
    “Explain this consort thing,” Maeve
interrupted.
    She flanked me, her body enfolded in a soft
blue woolen dress. Velvet and silk were meant for the
rich.
    I glanced at her. “I’m to be a voice for the
dragons. Nothing more.”
    She sighed. “You realize this will diminish how
people view you.”
    “Their scrutiny isn’t as important as what I
stand for.”
    Daegan patted me on the back. “It’s not easy
representing what most fear.”
    “You put too much stock in the gods,” Maeve
grumbled. “Both of you.”
    “Maybe,” I murmured, “but I believe it’s the
other way around.” I turned to face her, my face serious. “I think
the gods put too much stock in us.”
    For a long time we stood there, our gazes
watching the village below, a blanket of black falling over the
houses. This was Medeisia, a country of small,