The other lands

Delivegu was a reminder of it. She spotted him conversing with the party from the Prios Mines. How he had gotten in and what those men thought he was she had no idea, but in a strange way she was glad to have him near at hand. Eyes that lit with smiles when she made contact with them were misleading. She could sense the same eyes go malevolent when she was not looking. She could tell when conversation was amiable, and when the whispered words where unkind to her. She noted small things to examine further later. Senator Saden, while haranguing the woman beside him about something, avoided making eye contact with the newly enriched land speculator from Alyth. The man who passed beside him might have uttered something, but Saden did not acknowledge him until the two were some distance apart. Then he looked back and exchanged a knowing glance. Some petty treachery in the works between them? Likely. She would have Rhre

Cori

"Who is that?" Cori

Her maid answered that this was King Grae of Aushenia. The woman continued to explain that he would have been a

"I know," she said. "Summon him." She glanced at the priest, smiling. "I'm sure the Vadayan will offer his seat to foreign royalty."

As she sat watching the messenger sent by the maid make his way through the crowd, Cori

And just like that, before she knew it, a maid a

The Aushenian straightened. Tall then. His shoulders broad and his form slim beneath them. He wore the loose-fitting shirt his nation favored, open at the collar, partially revealing the lean muscle beneath his coppery chest hairs. "Your Majesty," he said, smiling. "I am honored. I did not wish to disturb you, only to watch this wonderful occasion from the fringes."

Ah, that Aushenian accent. She had heard it often over the years, but it still had a strange effect on her. Its bold tones and clipped edges had poetry in their very nature. She felt her cheeks threatening to flush, but quelled it. "It wouldn't do to have a king sit among the merchant class. There are so few kings of note these days. I couldn't help but ask you to sit beside me. Please do."

"I'm honored." He pressed his lips to the rings of her proffered hand and then took the seat recently vacated by the priest. Grae's face was dangerously reminiscent of Igguldan's, though of slightly more masculine cut, just a little bit heavier in the jaw and bolder in the cheekbones. Even his freckles contributed, as if they had been splashed there playfully, intentionally. He was handsome. Cori

He passed a few moments spouting the usual expressions of respect, and then sat gri

"Have you made a thorough survey of beauty in the world?"

"I have traveled, and I have eyes."

Certainly you do, Cori

Grae laughed and moved to dismiss the subject with a motion of his fingers.

"No, I mean it, sir. Tell me."

She held him to the point until he began an awkward description of the empire's races and descriptions of their women's qualities. He fumbled at first, but picking up on Cori

Cori

"We do," Grae said, "but he's off studying agricultural techniques on the Mainland. He likes to be industrious, my little brother."

"I know the type. You were close to him when you were young?"

They were, Grae agreed. At Cori

"We could not hide forever, though," Grae said. "So I did eventually come back into the world. Only it was a world in which my father and older brother no longer lived. It was a world in which my nation was overrun with foreigners, carved up, a playground for the Numrek. Dire times. Better that they are behind us now."

"You didn't fight for my brother, did you?"

"For Aliver?" Grae looked uneasy, but then regained his composure and answered with what appeared to be simple honesty. "No, I didn't, but I would have. Proudly, I would have. When he was massing to press his battle against Maeander in Talay, I was fighting for the life of my nation. I fought the remnants of the Numrek still on my soil, and I expelled the Mein and closed the Gradthic Gap. It was bloody, and… Well, I would argue that Aliver and I were fighting common enemies, even if we did not do so together."

Cori

"My sword is no virgin blade," Grae said. Cori