“She will not harm me. You need not—”

“She will, sire. She will,” Sir Terent insisted. “I know you have a generous heart and you would gladly risk yourself on her behalf, but you must not.” Sighing, Dain gave up the argument. By then Sulein had come squelching through the mud, looking alarmed. “Sulein,” Dain said to him, “make haste, and tell me what can be done for her?”

“As I told your majesty before, the spell they have cast over her is weaker than they believe,” Sulein said, steepling his long fingers together. “If one of the guardians has collapsed, the spell is now out of balance. It may fail completely.”

“Morde!” Dain said in fresh alarm. He gripped Sulein’s sleeve. “Come! We must help her.”

“Your majesty forgets I am forbidden to attend the lady.”

“But you know what to do. You can help her, can’t you?” Not giving Sulein a chance to answer, Dain stepped around Sir Terent and headed grimly toward the spot where Gavril was now standing, asking a question of one of the physicians.

“The spell cannot hold long without thirteen guardians, your highness,” the physician replied loudly. “The potion my colleague is giving her will ease her only if the spell can be rebalanced—” “Agreed,” Sulein said as he and Dain halted beside the prince’s group.  Gavril’s face clouded over, and the physician turned to look at Dain and Sulein with raised eyebrows.

Silence fell over Gavril and his small group. The hauteur on their faces angered Dain, for their pride and bigotry put Pheresa at more risk.  Cardinal Noncire gave Dain a very slight inclination of his head. “I fear your majesty’s creature has no place here,” he said quietly, with a hostile glance at Sulein. “His opinion is not requested.”

“Hear him,” Dain said with equal coldness. “For once, put aside your prejudice against all who are foreign. Master Sulein’s knowledge is more useful than you suppose.”

Gavril sniffed and swung his gaze back to the royal physician. “And what is necessary to rebalance the—the means by which she is kept alive?” “Another guardian must be substituted or the spell will fail completely,” Sulein said before the other physician could answer.

“Silence him!” Gavril shouted at Dain. “He has not my leave to speak.” Ignoring the prince, Dain turned to Sulein. “Could you take the fallen guardian’s place?” he asked. “Truthfully,” he added in warning before Sulein answered. “This is no time for ambition or vanity.”

Sulein’s dark eyes flashed in umbrage. “Your majesty maligns me,” he complained.

“But, yes, I possess the power and the skills for this kind of spell.” Gavril stepped up to them, his dark blue eyes snapping with fury. “He is dismissed, I said! This blasphemer will not go near my lady.” “Then she’ll die,” Dain said harshly. At that moment, he’d never despised Gavril more. “Or is that what you really want?”

A white ring appeared around Gavril’s mouth. He reached for his sword. Dain did the same.

Before either of them could draw, Sir Terent and Lord Kress jumped between them.

“Please, please, excellencies!” Cardinal Noncire called out. “Consider the lady.

This is no time for fighting.”

Dain took his hand off his sword hilt and stood there hot-cheeked and fuming while Gavril’s face grew paler and paler until his eyes were like burning coals.  Noncire turned to Sulein, and although a look of distaste crossed his fleshy face, his small black eyes never wavered. “Give me the truth, Master Sulein. Can you contribute to the weavings of faith emanating from the guardians?” “Yes, I can,” Sulein replied.

“You are not of the Circle,” Noncire continued. “Are you foe to it? If I permit you to join your skills with theirs, will you destroy what has been wrought or assist it?”

Sulein bowed to him. “I will assist. This, I swear on all that is held most sacred.”

“Don’t let him near her!” Gavril shouted. He would have rushed at Sulein, but his protector blocked his path. Gavril swore and struck the man with his fist, but Lord Kress grimly held firm. “Keep him away from her!” Gavril said. “I command it!”

Dain started to protest, but instead stretched out his hand in appeal to the cardinal. “Does it break the laws of Writ to let a nonbeliever give assistance?” Noncire frowned, but before he could reply, Sulein pulled a Circle from his pocket and held it up. “But I am a believer in the Circle,” he announced.  “Because I am not Mandrian-born does not mean I have not heard the message of Tomias the Prophet.”

Dain’s head jerked around, and he stared at the physician with astonishment before he swiftly lowered his gaze. He felt certain that Sulein was lying. The physician seemed to accept any art or magic that would advance his greedy ambitions, but he was no member of the Reformed Church.  Noncire seemed taken aback. Finally, however, he extended his hand in benediction to Sulein, who bowed low.

“Your highness, this changes everything,” the cardinal said to Gavril.

“No!” the prince shouted. “No!”

“Your highness, if this man can help keep the lady alive, then surely we must permit him to do so.”

“I do not trust him.”

“Does it matter, if he can help?”

While Gavril stared openmouthed at his former tutor, Dain stepped close to Sulein and glared at him.

“You play a dangerous game, Sulein,” he said very softly, for their ears alone.  The physician’s eyes were glowing. “I will never fathom the hidden secrets of these priests’ power unless I partake of it,” he murmured back.