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along the way, you’re doing quite well. Regardless, Sego can help you.”
    He truly hoped so. If the man had been compelled into this position, he might not be as helpful as Darius needed him to be. But he should worry about that later. Darius turned to him and gave a respectful bow, mentally praying to Shaa for any aid she could grant. “Your aid is a blessing to me, Sego of Aramesh.”
    Sego didn’t respond to this, simply smiled and returned the bow.
    “And I believe you have met Bohme of Quetel before?” Tresea continued with a wave of the hand to the burly man.
    “We have met,” Darius agreed with a shorter bow to the man. “But I must admit, I am confused at your presence here, Bohme. Aren’t you Raja Tailli’s personal guard?”
    “I wash,” he admitted with a voice deep enough to shake a few mountain ranges. “But Raja shaid ‘Protect him!’, sho here I am.”
    Darius had to swallow a smile. That sounded like something she would do, despite being recounted in Bohme’s thick northern accent. But never would he have imagined that keeping those four prisoner over two years ago would bring him good fortune now. The gods truly did have a strange sense of humor.
    “I thank her and you, Bohme. In truth, I did not think I could sleep tonight without some sort of guard.” He glanced over his shoulder at the closed door. “There are many unhappy people in this place.”
    “Unhappy is an understatement, General,” Sego remarked calmly. His voice was a smooth tenor, almost musical in a way. Darius hoped the man never tried to read him a report—he’d fall asleep in minutes with a voice like that in his ear. “Forgive the impudence, but I feel that I must ask…might we have the full story of the events a year ago?”
    Darius hesitated, profoundly uncomfortable with the question. Did he really want to tell the full story?
    “I am satisfied,” Tresea informed Sego with a quelling tone. “You do not need to ask this.”
    Sego promptly bowed to her. “Forgive me.”
    Darius extended a hand in a stopping manner. “No, My Queen. If these men are to trust me, if I am to trust them, then we must be able to speak frankly to each other. My survival, and the survival of this country, depends upon this.”
    Her lips parted in surprise as she stared at him. “You would not tell me when your life and freedom was on the line and now you speak of it?!”
    “You were my enemy then,” he pointed out dryly. “You are not now. Apologies, Sego. In truth, that night pains me in many ways. I do not like to speak of it and re-open old wounds.”
    Sego watched him carefully, brows needled a little as if in intense concentration. “In that case, allow me to ask just one question. You said that he broke the oath. Do you hold him responsible, then, for the fall of the capital?”
    Ahh. Darius thought he saw the true purpose of this question. Was Sego afraid that if the capital fell, he would hold Tresea directly responsible and kill her at that point? “No, Sego, I do not hold him responsible. He was responsible. It was not one oath that he broke, but two.”
    “ Two ?” Tresea demanded in astonishment.
    “He sent me on a mission because of blind ambition, even though I told him I would fail,” he explained simply. “He put his desires over his people. That was the first oath he broke. But he swore to me that he had sent for reinforcements for the capital defenses, and he had not. That was the second oath he broke.”
    “Is that when the capital was overrun by the Roran barbarians?” Sego asked this cautiously, a weather eye on the queen in case she took disfavor with his probing.
    “It was.”
    Tresea covered her eyes with one hand. “Great sands, no wonder you killed him! I would have too!”
    Darius addressed Sego’s concerns directly. “If ever Niotan is conquered, I will not blame her because I know that she will have done everything in her power to prevent it. You do not need to fear for her, Sego. At