Maud sprinted down the narrow row towards the platform at the other end of the long hall. Everyone was on their feet in an instant. Alice and Valmond, at the end of one of the long tables she ran between, also jumped up from their bench. The two soldiers by the door were dumbstruck. She didn’t care. She sprinted.

  “Draka!” She shouted as she ran.

  “Maud?” Aurie was beside him, gaping with concern. “What are you doing here?”

  All heads were facing her. Most, she recognized as she sprinted: Pierre, Enya, and Father Hagen. The redhead in the yellow dress lifted over a thigh of knives that was somewhere between her age and her mother’s, she did not. Draka was awestruck with more confusion than the rest of them.

  “Maud, you should be back at the house!” Aurie nearly flew over the table to get to her when Maud jumped onto the platform and rushed to Draka.

  Maud wrapped her good hand around Draka and planted her cheek to his chest, making him stumble back.

  “I’m sorry for what I said. Everything,” she rushed every word. She can’t hold it back, she can’t wait, she can’t let all of it stay between them. What she had to say must be trusted, must be heard. “I have to talk to you, now!”

  “Maud, what is going on?” Aurie tried to pry her from around Draka.

  “Where’s all the blood coming from?” Enya said, though Draka was pressing at her shoulder, nearly prying at her hold to see the stain on her chemise with pursed brows.

  The redhead in the yellow dress threw that dress off of her in a flash, revealing a tight outfit of leather belts and knives, a folded crossbow was pulled from beside her chair. “Wake the garrison! Sound the watch and close the gates! All heads! Find the other ward and bring him here!”

  At the same time, Enya leapt from the platform with her, barking to the soldiers, “Order the tower to sound Watcher’s Rise!” To Draka, “I’ll fetch my Cohort.” To the redhead, “Protect them.”

  The redhead drew two short swords from her belt and leapt onto a table, facing the door, ready.

  Too fast, Maud thought. Everything was moving too fast for her to speak. Father Hagen and Pierre were being shouted at by the redhead to join Alice and Valmond under the end of the table she was standing on while Aurie and Draka were sandwiching Maud between them.

  Maud shook her head.

  “Who did this to you? Were you attacked? Was it Karl? Did a soldier do this to you? Was it a migrant? What happened?” Aurie was trying to turn her from facing Draka while she shook her head.

  “Stop…no…no, he—no…no, will you—SHUT UP!” Maud roared, pushing Draka and whirling on her mother. “It was Lilith, HIS WIFE!”

  Aurie tried to cover her mouth with her hands before anyone could see it fall open beneath her rounded gaze. The sound of two swords bouncing across a table onto the floor echoed through the hall, followed by gasps. Aurie’s eyes weren’t fixed on Maud, they were aimed at Draka.

  Draka took a step back from them. Maud turned to face him. He had a tight-jawed, tight-lipped sideways glare pointed at her, his nostrils flaring nearly to a snarl that lifted his upper lip from covering his teeth. Maud felt all of her confidence fall from her as if the air itself had carried it away. She reached for him but his hand shifted toward the sword on his hip and Aurie’s hand squeezed her arm.

  Draka’s hand slid the blade partially from its sheath.

  “Draka,” Aurie said from behind her, as softly as she had ever heard her speak to her Pa, “What she says is true. Sophia is one of her names.”

  Father Hagen climbed from under the table and held his palms out to Draka. “Your Majesty.”

  Maud felt the trembling spread through her. Her heart was aching, yearning. She could feel his agony as she watched his face first squeeze with tension, tightening over his chiseled jawline and high cheekbones, stretching those thick lips, and crinkling that shapely brow. And then, his skin loosened with numbness.

  “You were deceived,” Father Hagen cautioned, stepping toward the platform. “There is no sin in that.”

  Draka’s eyes became void, expressionless. His mouth no longer curled with anger or frustration or surprise. His cheekbones and jaw were relaxed. He was…empty. And Maud felt that emptiness within her own heart, crushing it as she watched. He wasn’t even looking at them anymore. He wasn’t looking at anything.

  Maud jerked away from Aurie’s grip. She knew. She felt it throughout her with every part of her, everything she knew of him, what he felt. What he was about to do. As his hand lifted the sword from its sheath, she pressed it back down and threw herself into him. His back hit the wall and he sank to the ground beneath her, but she held on, keeping that sword firmly in its sheath despite the sting of the stitches she probably tore.

  “She chose you for the same reasons we did,” Maud said into his shoulder.

  The door at the end of the hall flew open as Adrian was led in by a dozen armored men and Enya. Maud turned her head against Draka’s chest to see them around the chairs. They were all facing the door, not the platform, except Adrian and Enya, who had very different looks on their faces. Adrian looked worried. Enya looked more curious. The redhead looked much as Draka did just before Maud had stopped him from drawing his sword to fall upon; numb with grief, though her face was dripping with tears.

  “You’re ours now,” Maud said as she found herself fixed on Adrian. “I need you to be strong, Draka. I’ve spent too long feeding you and tending your wounds for you to let that thing break you.”

  “Maud,” Aurie was beside them, “Tell us what happened.”

  Maud leaned back to look into Draka’s eyes. He wasn’t meeting them. She grabbed his head with both of her hands. The stitches did break. Her finger spread blood across the side of his face through the bandaging. “I’ll be your daughter. I’ll help you keep your oath to Pa. Draka,” she angled his face so he had to look into her eyes, “Ma was trying to take care of this for you, but if she does, then Lilith will attack her and…” Maud turned a little sideways so her mother could hear, “it will be worse than it was before.”

  Aurie gulped loudly at that one. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Aurie’s hand touch where her scar on her neck was.

  She turned back to Draka, whose eyes had regained focus, “I’d rather die than let my step-father be husband to that murdering bitch out of fear. I’ve lived with fear. I know what it’s like to be willing to make a choice because fear says it’s the only one you have and I’m not letting you or anyone else I love feel that again.”

  His eyes were beginning to focus now. There was rage in them.

  Maud narrowed with conviction, “So, divorce her and take the fight to her. You have an oath to keep, remember?”

  Draka nodded. There was still loss in his gaze, still a numbness, but she saw a return of heart in it as well. A return of hope, small as it was. Maud nearly wept when she felt Draka pull her into a warm embrace.

  Father Hagen sighed with relief. The redhead scooped up her swords and replaced them in her belts before wiping at the tears on her face, under the hard gaze of Enya. Alice and Valmond were holding each other, paying no attention to anyone else.

  “At least my mother can’t argue with that excuse,” Adrian gave a half-hearted thumbs up to Draka.

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  Enya, standing beside Adrian, shook her head at him.

  “What?” Adrian shrugged at her.

  “No.” Enya had her hands on her armored hips.

  “Lilith told you this?” Aurie crouched down beside Maud and Draka.

  Maud nodded against the gilding on Draka’s coat, “She told me to make you stop it or she would attack you. She won’t attack me because he loves me.”

  Something Lilith said made Maud’s eyes shift. “She said she was hiding me from someone, too.”

  Father Hagen and Pierre both perked at the same time. Their gazes met. From down the row, it was the redhead who called out, trotting toward them, “Say that again?”

  Aurie drew in a breath, “Unless you have something worth…”

  The redhead held up a finger at Aurie, sea green eyes aimed at Maud as she slid between Father Hagen and Pierre, “Say exactly what she told you. Word for word, if you can.”

  “I think someone who qualifies should do such examinations…” Pierre interceded.

  “Hold that thought,” the redhead moved the finger in front of Maud and called over her shoulder, “Pally, can you educated everyone, please?”

  Enya took a deep breath before saying, “She’s a trained spy for the church. Specifically, to spy on Celestes, guys. This is her expertise, on top of general intrigue. She’s,” Enya flapped a hand, “actually pretty good at her job.”

  “Thank you,” the redhead lowered the finger only when she was turned back around to Maud. “Now, word for word, or as close to it as you remember.”

  Maud leaned back from Draka, who slid himself to sitting against the wall a bit more comfortably. After thinking it over, she hesitantly answered, “I think it was something about…or…’when he stops loving you, I won’t hide you from him.” Maud blinked for a moment, running the words through her head. It didn’t sound right. Something was off about it. Lilith’s voice wouldn’t say that. She muttered, “I will stop hiding you from Him.”

  The redhead snapped her pointing finger. “You’re under protection.”

  Enya was beside her now.

  “Yes, God protects her, ever since he healed…” Aurie began.

  The redhead shook her head, grinning. “Not God. My ki—” Maud saw the instant glare from both her mother and Enya, followed by the hard gulp from the redhead, “Your Majesty, you have the Gift of True Sight, do you not?”

  Draka’s nod was distant, as if he were somewhere else. He suddenly looked…worried. He braced himself with a wince, like he didn’t want to know but knew he needed to. Maud knew she was reflecting the same expression right back at him. His eyes lolled and closed.

  Maud winced in anticipation.

  They opened, glowing blue as he looked upon her, scanning over her. And his feet shifted away from her, fighting for traction, fighting to bring him from sitting into a crouch so he could lift her chin and look into her eyes. Maud let him.

  “What is it?” Aurie asked, trembling as she began grabbing at Maud. “What is wrong with her?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with her, Regent,” the redhead reassured her. “He’d react differently if there was, trust me.”

  As she watched Draka’s glowing eyes stare down her throat and turn her head to look into her ears, she could feel the animosity emanating between her mother and the redhead. Draka’s eyes returned to their normal gold within green circles as he pulled parchment and quill on his way to sitting beside them.

  ‘She’s a shadow,’ he wrote. ‘Never seen anything like it except in Kiev. Can’t remember his name. Adrian remembers him. He was his friend. But there’s nothing. No corruption, no light. I know she is devout and faithful. I know she has Christ in her heart and is obedient to the Word.’

  “Who did you know in Kiev that was a shadow under True Sight?” Enya called to Adrian.

  Adrian trotted to them. “Say again?”

  “Kiev. He said you had a friend who was a shadow when he looked in True Sight,” Maud asked. “What does it mean?”

  “Friend…friend,” He looked around him, then with a squished face, “You mean Sasha? He was only kind of a friend.”

  Draka cocked a brow at him.

  Adrian nodded with a shrug. “Okay, he was an okay friend.” Everyone was staring at him expectantly. He nodded, “Right. He was a nobody. A farm boy or some other. Helped me every so often between the battles, gave us a warm stable to sleep in when the nights got cold. After we got harried by the Olgas, he hid us under his house. Woke us up in the middle of the coldest night that winter and sent us on our way. You know,” he turned a wagging finger at Draka, “I had to stop him from stealing Saint John’s skull once. I think he was a Celeste, to be honest.”

  And Maud watched Draka, Enya, and the redhead exchange glances that were met with a beleaguered sigh from Father Hagen. “What?”

  “Someone say something,” Aurie was also looking between them.

  “Seems…” Father Hagen drew in a deep breath.

  “Your daughter is…” Enya was also hesitant.

  But the redhead was all-too-ready to answer with, “Being protected from celestial eyes. Heavenly or Fallen.”

  “Celestial, as in…” Maud looked to Draka.

  ‘Angels,’ He wrote. ‘God’s messengers can’t reach you, but neither can the Enemy’s.’

  “Why would Lilith do that for me?” Maud crinkled her brow.

  “The bigger question is,” the redhead was looking directly at Aurie, “Who would be looking?”

  “And why?” Aurie crossed her arms.

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Adrian pointed. All eyes turned to him. He shrank back from them. “Well—I mean—she’s—her mother’s a Paladin—Draka’s Lilith’s husband and her adopted father. Not to mention this is the first Paladinate Kingdom since the actual First Paladin. I mean, if she isn’t something, then I’m a cat in mittens.”

  Redhead shrugged, “He’s got a point.”

  “Yeah, that’s good enough for me,” Enya agreed.

  Aurie only shook her head. “Can’t wait to find out what more surprises this family has in store.”

  “Good thing is,” Adrian grinned, “My mother is about to arrive with a full host of his Order from the Holy Lands.”

  All but Draka turned to Adrian. Then, they turned to Draka, who nodded that he knew.

  “How many?” Enya narrowed her eyes.

  “I don’t know,” Adrian shook his head at her as if she were an idiot for asking. “I’m not a member of her council and pretty low ranking in the Order. But last I heard, there was around twenty thousand with my father. I don’t know how many she is bringing with her and I doubt they’re all going to arrive when she gets here in the next day or two. But they’re coming, since Draka is the Order’s new Grand Master, making this their Order Charter Lands.”

  Valmond was now fanning Alice, who had collapsed on the table behind Father Hagen.

  “Your majesty,” Enya grinned, “Be nice if you had told me we were about to have a large garrison.” He handed her a parchment. “Oh…that makes sense.”

  “What?” Aurie looked up at it.

  “He didn’t know how many or whether he would have them stay here or not. He was going to decide once Queen Isabella—” Alice let out a loud moan and fully fainted into Valmond’s arms, “arrived and told him the exact numbers.”

  Maud turned in Draka’s arms, “Didn’t Lilith’s owls come from the Abbey? Isn’t that where your armies normally garrison?”

  Looks were exchanged. Adrian raised an admiring grin at Maud. She liked the way he looked at her. He never looked at her like he wanted to kiss her or touch her. He looked at her like…she was better than everything he had ever seen. Not more beautiful or—delicious—but better. Stronger, maybe? Smarter? Something. Just, more. He liked that she was…more.

  She had missed something. Draka was nodding.

  Enya pulled a fist, “Bloody finally!”