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Rajah.”
    “An adequate sum!” Orb exclaimed indignantly.
    “It is here,” the officer said, proffering her a small package.
    They were quite serious. Mym knew that there was no way to talk them out of this; the Rajah’s word was absolute. He bit his tongue.
    Orb, bemused, accepted the package, but did not look at it.
    “You will be given a few minutes to make your parting with the woman,” the officer said. “You will not need to take any belongings, Prince; we shall provide you with suitable raiment.”
    The blood flowed in Mym’s mouth. His skin paled. Tiny bubbles appeared at his lips.
    The officer kneeled before him, proffering the hilt of his sword. “If it pleases you, Prince, strike off my head first, and any others you wish. We shall not take arms against our leader. But you will return to the Kingdom.”
    “Mym!” Orb screamed, understanding. “They are only doing their duty! You must go with them!”
    He paused. She was correct—but even if she had been in error, he realized that he would not expose her to this. She was not a creature of mayhem.
    He turned his head and spat out the blood. Then he took the officer’s sword, reversed it, and handed it back. “A moment,” he said, in this instance not stuttering.
    “As my lord wishes,” the officer said, seemingly unruffled. He sheathed the sword.
    Mym turned to Orb. “I will return to you,” he sang. “After I persuade my father that I will not serve. Until that time, I give you this.” He brought out the ring that was shaped like a little snake.
    “But what is it?” she asked, her eyes glistening with tears.
    “It is a royal charm. Wear it, and it will answer any question. One squeeze means yes, two mean no, and three mean it can not answer in that fashion. It will also protect you, if you ask it to.”
    “Protect me?”
    He put the ring on his own finger.
Demonstrate
, he thought.
    The little snake came to life. It slithered into his palm; then, as he brought it to Orb’s hand, across to hers. It reared up momentarily, issuing a tiny hiss, then coiled around one of her fingers and went metallic again.
    “You mean—it bites?” she asked, amazed.
    “Deadly,” he sang. “But only on command. This you can always trust. Wear it and be secure.”
    “Until you return,” she said.
    He nodded. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her deeply. Some of his makeup smeared on her face, but that didn’t matter. She was too lovely for any smear to alter.
    He stepped to the officer. “Now I will go with you.” he sang.
    They brought up a fine horse, and Mym mounted. He paused to wave to Orb and to the others who had befriended him. Then he rode out.

 3
  PRINCESS
    The Rajah was older than Mym remembered him. Of course, Mym had been no closer to his father than to his brother; it was not the royal way. He had encountered the man, physically, perhaps no more than a dozen times in his life, and most of those during his childhood, before his mother had had the bad judgment to bear a daughter and had been divorced and dismissed from palace life. Mym had had no close family life thereafter, and realized now that this had been a considerable part of what he had sought and found in Orb—true love and closeness between individuals. He was not about to give it up.
    Still, the sight of his father was something of a shock. It was not just that the man was old, but that he was both grand and ill. He was elegantly robed, of course, which was his normal state, with golden embroidery and a necklace of bright rubies, but his bearing was a thing beyond dress. The Rajah could have been naked and still radiated authority. His illness showed in the sallowness of his complexion and the hollowness of his cheeks. Obviously magic had buttressed his health, but there were limits even to magic, and the man was inevitably descendingtoward his release of this body. No wonder he was concerned about the state of his Heir.
    “It is necessary for the Heir to have an