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congratulating herself on the day's accomplishments.
    "You're playing a cruel game, Princess," Durnik told her bluntly from the spot a few feet away where he was building a fire.
    Ce'Nedra was startled. So far as she could remember, Durnik had never spoken directly to her since she had joined the party. The smith was obviously uncomfortable in the presence of royalty and, indeed, seemed actually to avoid her. Now, however, he looked straight into her face, and his tone was reproving.
    "I don't know what you're talking about," she declared.
    "I think you do." His plain, honest fact was serious, and his gaze was steady.
    Ce'Nedra lowered her eyes and flushed slowly.
    "I've seen village girls play this same game," he continued. "Nothing good ever comes of it."
    "I'm not trying to hurt anybody, Durnik. There isn't really anything of that sort between Mandorallen and me - we both know that."
    "Garion doesn't."
    Ce'Nedra was amazed. "Garion?"
    "Isn't that what it's all about?"
    "Of course not!" she objected indignantly. Durnik's look was profoundly skeptical.
    "Such a thing never entered my mind," Ce'Nedra rushed on. "It's absolutely absurd."
    "Really?"
    Ce'Nedra's bold front collapsed. "He's so stubborn," she complained. "He just won't do anything the way he's supposed to."
    "He's an honest boy. Whatever else he is or might become, he's still the plain, simple boy he was at Faldor's farm. He doesn't know the rules of the gentry. He won't lie to you or flatter you or say things he doesn't really feel. I think something very important is going to happen to him before very long - I don't know what - but I do know it's going to take all his strength and courage. Don't weaken him with all this childishness."
    "Oh, Durnik," she said with a great sigh. "What am I going to do?"
    "Be honest. Say only what's in your heart. Don't say one thing and mean another. That won't work with him."
    "I know. That's what makes it all so difficult. He was raised one way, and I was raised another. We're never going to get along." She sighed again.
    Durnik smiled, a gentle, almost whimsical smile. "It's not all that bad, Princess," he told her. "You'll fight a great deal at first. You're almost as stubborn as he is, you know. You were born in different parts of the world, but you're not really all that different inside. You'll shout at each other and shake your fingers in each others' faces; but in time that will pass, and you won't even remember what you were shouting about. Some of the best marriages I know of started that way."
    "Marriage!"
    "That's what you've got in mind, isn't it?"
    She stared at him incredulously. Then she suddenly laughed. "Dear, dear Durnik," she said. "You don't understand at all, do you?"
    "I understand what I see," he replied. "And what I see is a young girl doing everything she possibly can to catch a young man."
    Ce'Nedra sighed. "That's completely out of the question, you know - even if I felt that way - which of course I don't."
    "Naturally not." He looked slightly amused.
    "Dear Durnik," she said again, "I can't even allow myself such thoughts. You forget who I am."
    "That isn't very likely," he told her. "You're usually very careful to keep the fact firmly in front of everybody."
    "Don't you know what it means?"
    He looked a bit perplexed. "I don't quite follow."
    "I'm an Imperial Princess, the jewel of the Empire, and I belong to the Empire. I'll have absolutely no voice in the decision about whom I'm going to marry. That decision will be made by my father and the Cauncil of Advisers. My husband will be rich and powerful - probably much older than I am - and my marriage to him will be to the advantage of the Empire and the House of Borune. I probably won't even be consulted in the matter."
    Durnik looked stunned. "That's outrageous!" he objected.
    "Not really," she told him. "My family has the right to protect its interests, and I'm an extremely valuable asset to the Borunes." She sighed again, a forlorn little sigh. "It