1/Terreille

Raenel had only been gone a few days, but Tarine was already wishing she were back again. Hell, she would even take Prince DeSade back. Potentially lethal temper included. At least then she might feel like they had a chance against Meredith's latest scheme. Right now, she wasn't so sure.

The heart of it was insidiously clever. Tarine had heard rumors trickling into her district about how spies from Dhemlan had infiltrated the courts and destroyed their control over Blood males. Meredith was claiming that the Dhemlan Queens wanted to take Hayll for themselves. Her plan was to strike back and crush the would-be usurpers for good.

Unfortunately, the lure of those words was strong enough to reel in many witches- and even some Warlords- in Draega. Not to mention Meredith's pet Queens. Even before Raenel had left with the Prince, Tarine had been hearing of rallies in neighboring districts. And of much worse things.

Just today she'd heard that Lady Jaemie publicly tortured two young witches, claiming that they were Dhemlans spies posing as Hayllians. The proof? The witches had only arrived in her district in the past year and couldn't produce any link to the previous Queen they'd been serving. Howe had spared her the details of what he and his men had seen, but she knew it was bad.

And it was only going to get worse.

Tarine may not be a Black Widow like Raenel was, but she could see that much. Times had been dark enough for everyone when Meredith campaigned against Blood males. Warlords and Princes died by the hundreds- the thousands. And those left alive couldn't really call it living.

But in most cases, a witch could keep herself whole…if she knew how to follow Meredith's rules. If you didn't fight and stayed out of the main courts, you kept your Jewels and could scratch out some kind of living. Tarine wasn't naïve. No one was ever completely safe in Hayll, but it was enough.

This new attack changed everything.

Witches could be persecuted alongside their male counterparts. Offered up as traitors or spies without any proof. Anyone with a grudge had a perfect means of getting revenge. The right word in the right ear and a witch would die a violent and brutal death. For the good of Hayll, they'd tell themselves.

Mother Night, why did Raenel have to leave now? And if she was right, she'd be gone for at least a month before coming back. Would she and the other Queens be able to hold out that long?

"Lady, are you feeling all right?"

Tarine glanced up at Lord Braetyn, who was hovering over her anxiously. Usually, she'd be annoyed at all his fussing, but not today. Right now she could only feel grateful that she had the support of her Court behind her to face whatever was coming.

"Just thinking about the report from Howe," she replied with a dejected sigh. "We'll be seeing more of those in the coming weeks, I'm sure of it."

"Not in this district," he insisted firmly.

She ventured a wan smile at his confidence and shuffled a few petitions around.

"I will do my best to keep Meredith's poison out of this part of Draega, but…"

"Respectfully, Lady Tarine, you might as well stop that sentence right now," Braetyn interrupted. "Because if any of that does get here, it'll only be because none of us are left to fight it."

He'd meant for that to be comforting, but Tarine felt chilled by what those words implied. All gone. Her entire Court- Howe, Braetyn and all the others she'd come to know so well- all destroyed. She'd never given it much thought before. The task she'd been given of building her Court had occupied most of her time. But they'd been trained to be her tools for war as much as her council.

Suddenly it was very real that one day soon she might be responsible for ordering their deaths.

"No," she whispered in denial. "I can't let that happen."

"We'll do our best- and hope for the best. That's all we can do, Lady. But we're all willing to stand behind you and fight, when the time comes."

Raenel could have warned her. A flash of temper swept through her. During any of her visits, she could have spared an hour to tell Tarine about this. Or at least smacked Tarine over the head with it if she wasn't getting the lesson. But the rage faded as quickly as it had appeared.

Raenel had warned her. That's part of what she'd been talking about this last time. They'd talked about the coming upheaval for Hayll. It had been part of the question she'd asked. Tarine just hadn't recognized it at the time. She was somewhat chagrined that it hadn't occurred to her that part of the bloodshed would be shouldered by her Court. What did Raenel always say?

Everything has its price.

As Tarine furrowed her brow and tried to shake the image of Braetyn caught in Meredith's clutches, she hoped that it was one she could live with when this was over. And that meant stepping up to do what Raenel said she believed could be done.

"Well, if we're going to fight, I suppose we'd best get to making sure we're prepared for it," she said finally.

"And where would you like to begin?"

Tarine picked up the treaty Raenel had brought from one of her Sisters in this part of the city, Gwynn. The young Queen had only recently set up her own Court, and was asking for Tarine's help to form an alliance. Not just an alliance. She was proposing to drive Lady Jaemie out of the district between them.

Of course, when this letter was drafted, Meredith hadn't announced her campaign against Dhemlan yet. Back then, she might have considered taking a risk like that. Now, she was hesitant to give Meredith or her coven bitches a reason to look in her direction too closely. Or Lady Jaemie, for that matter.

An attack now would do more harm than good. But that didn't mean she would throw away an opportunity to unite with Lady Gwynn and her court. They may not be as established as Tarine's was, but Raenel said she'd been working in that district nearly as long. She suspected that the Lady had a First Circle long ago, but didn't know it.

Just like she hadn't known it. Like that both Howe and Braetyn had been in her Queen's Triangle before any of them even knew what it meant. Raenel had tried to break it to her gently, but it had still been a shock. Tarine hoped she could be there to see it happen to another Queen one day. Hell, maybe one day it would be her giving the speech. If they survived this.

She shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand. Braetyn was waiting patiently for her thoughts to circle back, but it was clear she'd been distracted for quite some time. Tarine cleared her throat and held up the letter.

"With this, I think. Lady Gwynn's district shares a border on the other side of Lady Jaemie's. We were thinking to combine our resources and take control of it."

When she paused for breath, Tarine saw how nervous that idea made him.

"Rest assured, Lord Braetyn, that plan will be set aside- for now. But it wouldn't hurt to strengthen ties between her Court and ours in the meantime."

"Were you thinking to send an envoy?"

"Possibly," she replied slowly. "Although I think that would be best decided once we convene a meeting with the First Circle. Can you spread the word that we'll meet this afternoon?"

"Your will is my life, Lady."

As he slipped out of the salon to find the rest of the First Circle, Tarine tried not to fixate on how literal those words could turn out to be.

2/Terreille

Collette nodded at Lord Yemar, signaling that the audience was concluded for today. The room cleared out, leaving only a few members of her First Circle behind. She leaned forward on her elbows and blew out a breath.

"That was exhausting."

"I'm wondering if we need two sessions during the month," Lord Correy suggested. "It's just too much anymore to fit everyone into one session."

"Can we afford to draw any more attention on us than we already do now," she countered. "It's dangerous enough that we convene this often. Especially now."

Lord Yemar considered her question for a few minutes. Of all her First Circle, he was most experienced when it came to avoiding Meredith. Which had made him perfect as her Master of the Guard. So if he had an opinion on the matter, she'd welcome hearing it.

"Well," he drawled slowly. "It might serve us better to break it up a little. Smaller gatherings are less likely to be marked by anyone thinking to look. But you get a crowd like this one together…"

"I agree, Lady," Prince Faeston chimed in. "These audiences used to be much smaller. It was both practical and prudent to meet infrequently. But you saw them today- almost two dozen showed up this time."

"Unless you're planning to make some kind of demonstration like they're doing lately in the next district over…"

"Which we're not," Collette spat out with a snarl.

Lord Yemar held up his hands in surrender.

"Of course not. But what I'm saying is that in the other districts, that's what is happening when a crowd like this gathers. And if that's not what's going on, someone is going to start asking what is going on."

She sat back in her chair and weighed the advice of her Warlords. As she turned them over and over again, she fiddled with the cuffs of her sleeves. Lady Damelle was constantly giving her grief that one day she'd fray the sleeves of all of her gowns into pieces. She sighed and forced herself to leave it be.

"All right, I'm thinking it's time we changed our audience schedule. Lord Correy, can you please take down notes of our meeting and keep any decisions for the Court records?"

"Will do, Lady."

Now what was she going to do? Collette still wasn't all that used to making decisions on her own. Not even after that execution of Warlord. Shouldn't be surprising, though. Earlier this year, Raenel was ruling this district. And now she was expected to do it. Time to make Raenel proud and think of a solution to the problem.

"Lady?" Yemar prompted.

"Youth networks," she blurted out.

Everyone looked around at one another, confused.

"What?"

"If we're not going to meet once a month anymore, we're going to need a system to decide who gets seen when," Collette began. Her voice gained strength as she began to develop a clearer idea.

"We could just divide the district into segments and give each one a week to bring issues to the Court," Faeston said.

"True- that is one way to do it. But I'm not sure this is the time to start dividing up the community. Even for a good reason. We need to stick together to fend off what's coming."

Some murmurs and few heads nodding. Collette took courage from that to go on with her idea.

"So I was thinking we enlist the help of some of the youths in the districts. No one thinks twice seeing them milling around or roaming the streets in Draega. Why not use it to help deliver messages between the Court and the community leaders?"

"And how would that solve the issue with the audiences?"

"We could notify the community leaders about an upcoming meeting using those messages. And," she continued, "have them collect petitions for review. We'd select a half dozen of the most urgent to hear at the audience."

"Petitions, huh?"

"Queen Tarine up in the northeast has been running her audiences that way for years now. Not with the whole youth network idea, but the petitions system. Raenel told me about it, and I think maybe it's time to use it here."

"We could try it and see how it works for a few months," Correy said with a shrug. "I'll need to reorganize some of the file cabinets in the records room to make a space for the added paperwork, but it'd be doable."

"Do you think the young witches and Warlords would take the job seriously," Faeston posed to Yemar.

"Hard to say," the Master of the Guard replied, rubbing his chin.

"They might if we paid them," Collette proposed.

"Whoa- pay them? With what? Right now the Court coffers are spread pretty thin."

That from her Steward. She knew Correy'd squeal the loudest at any mention of money. But she could win him over. Hopefully.

"Just a few copper marks apiece. And maybe offer them an opportunity to train as apprentices in the Court in exchange. It would give us the extra help we need and provide them with something meaningful to do in the community."

"I think it would be worth a try, Correy. A dozen copper marks every few weeks won't break the treasury."

Collette flashed a grateful look across the room to Lord Stargel. He winked back at her. One down. But if she could convince Yemar or Faeston, the others would follow suit.

"The baker near where I live has two daughters," Lady Damelle offered. "One of them is abysmal at baking. The last bread she made was harder than quarried stone. He's at a loss what to do with her."

"I know of a few others with similar stories," Yemar admitted.

"So are we really considering this?"

"Looks like you're going to have to pry open the strong box, Correy," Faeston teased. "Maybe some of those marks you've hoarded will finally see the light of day."

"Only if we're all agreed," Collette insisted. "What say you?"

Their answer was quickly given- a unanimous assent to the plan. She smiled and stood up. Slowly. Mother Night was she stiff from sitting in that chair for so long. If nothing else, she'd welcome a change in the audience routine if it meant she didn't have to sit for so long at a time.

"If it pleases the Court, let's gather a list of potential candidates to approach and we'll look them over in the morning."

"Tomorrow morning will be fine, Lady."

"Well, if the Court has nothing else to discuss, we may adjourn for the afternoon."

Lord Correy and Lord Stargel bowed slightly and headed off to the Steward's room. She was sure between the two of them they'd find a way to finance her plan. And the challenge would keep Correy busy for a long while.

Collette was still musing over that idea when she saw Faeston lean over to Yemar and nudge him.

"Did you want to bring it up, or should I?"

"Bring what up," she asked warily.

"It'd be best if it were you. I didn't see it for myself, anyway."

"Tell me what?"

"We weren't sure if we should tell you until we'd verified it's true or not."

"Oh Mother Night- what is it?"

It was just the three of them now in the room. Faeston moved closer to her and rested his hand lightly on hers.

"Sweetheart, it's about Lauren."

Apprehension made her throat dry, and Collette tried to swallow several times before she could answer.

"Did you find her?"

He said nothing at first, stroking her arm soothingly.

"What was left of her."

Collette burst into tears and covered her face with her hands. Lauren was one of the first witches she'd gotten close to. A friend. She had disappeared two weeks ago- just out running an errand. One minute she'd been with her escort, and then had vanished seemingly into thin air. No one had seen her in the district since.

Foolishly, she'd hoped that her friend would turn up again unharmed. But deep down, Collette knew that Lauren wasn't coming back. And now it was certain. She continued to cry, beyond caring that Lauren's story was a common one in Draega. Witches and Warlords died every day. But dammit this was her friend.

"I know, honey, I know," Faeston murmured. "She was a close friend to all of us."

He'd wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry into his shirtfront. Collette indulged in her grief for a few more minutes before she took a few steadying breaths. She was Queen of this district, and there were things the Queen was expected to do when a member of her Court was killed. Friend or not.

She brushed his arm lightly to let him know that she was calm again. Faeston pulled away, concern filling his eyes. He was going to fuss something awful tonight. But Collette wasn't going to complain. Later, she'd be glad to let him fuss over her. Right now, she had to finish being Queen Collette.

"Your report, Prince. Where did you find her?"

"Lady Julaene's district, Lady."

She might have guessed. Lady Julaene ruled the district directly east of Collette's. A district firmly in the shadow of Meredith and her coven. She'd been to it once or twice a very long time ago. But not since Raenel had created this district as a refuge.

"Do we know how or why she was there?"

"Not as far as any of us have been able to determine," Faeston admitted reluctantly. "My best guess so far is that she may have been recruiting witches and Warlords for our district."

"And got caught, you think."

"Not unlikely," Yemar grumbled. "Lauren was always an advocate for expansion. Too reckless."

"She knew better than to go into Lady Julaene's district alone, though."

"It's just a theory."

They would probably never know what had really lured Lauren into that place.

"What happened to her?"

"Lady, I don't think you want to hear…"

"What did you see, Prince Faeston," Collette commanded in her most Queen-like voice.

He bowed his head and blew out a breath. But he didn't argue with her again. Not against that voice.

"She was staked out in the main square- charred down to the bone from witchfire," Faeston said at last in a quiet whisper. "I don't know if her fingers were missing because they'd been burned off, but they were gone. My guess is that she'd been there for a few days at least."

Only the strongest of wills kept her from falling to pieces again. Or from throwing up all over the floor. But Collette held firm, remembering the lessons that Raenel had taught her. If she wanted to do right by Lauren, she'd be strong.

"Anything else?"

"Lauren wasn't the first to be burnt in that square."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Lady Julaene has ordered the executions of several witches in the past week, from what I heard. The people there spoke of hunting for Dhemlan spies- and making an example of them."

"But Lauren was Hayllian."

Faeston nodded slowly.

"So were the other witches that were executed."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm afraid it does," Yemar spoke up grimly. "If a Queen's authority is threatened and weakening, it's a perfect guise to change the tide in her favor."

"He's right, Lady. It's a new twist on an old tactic."

Obviously, the look on her face showed that she didn't quite understand what they were trying to tell her. Her Master of the Guard gestured to himself and to Faeston.

"For the past eight hundred years, it was us- Blood males. Meredith and her coven branded us as the enemy and turned all witches against us. Unhappy with how hard life is for you, she'd said. Blame the Blood males- it's their fault."

"And no one pays attention to who is really behind it," Collette said slowly.

"Exactly."

"So if it worked so well all these years, why is Meredith switching things up now?"

"I suspect it's the loss of the Rings," Faeston answered with a brittle smile. "Without them, it's not so easy to keep a leash on Warlords and Princes. I'm not at all surprised that she dropped that angle like a hot rock."

Yemar paced the floor, hands crossed behind his back. Collette listened to the rhythmic sound of his boots on the stones, fussing with her gown sleeves again. Neither of them interrupted her thoughts as she worked through what they'd said. They simply waited.

She didn't know enough about this thing with the Dhemlan spies. Raenel hadn't said anything about it when she had been here last month. Which meant she either didn't know, or thought this was something Collette needed to discover on her own. Neither was an idea she found appealing.

Worse yet, if she wanted to learn more about what Meredith and the coven were up to, she would have to send someone out in to Julaene's district again. And having heard what happened to Lauren, that was not an easy order to give. The next person who went into that district may end up crisped as a spy, too.

But Collette was far less willing to sit blind and deaf to the danger until it knocked on her door. She sighed and rubbed her temples vigorously.

"We'll have to discuss with the rest of the First Circle how to gather more information about what Meredith and her coven are planning. Lauren's death was a warning- I don't need another to know that we have a battle ahead of us. So let's be ready for it."

"As you command, Lady," Yemar replied. "I'll be sure that they're briefed before our meeting tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Warlord."

He cast a sharp look at Faeston, and back.

"If I have your leave, I think I'll see to that now."

"Of course."

When he'd gone, Faeston held out a hand to her. He switched easily out of his role for the meeting into the role of Consort ready to comfort his Lady. Probably why Yemar had been so quick to be somewhere else. Collette was immediately hoisted to her feet. Faeston kissed her temple and let her head rest against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know that was hard for you."

"But I had to do it. For Lauren. She would have wanted me to fight back. She'd want me to do whatever I have to do so it doesn't happen to someone else."

"You're a good Queen and a good friend," he said, giving her an affectionate squeeze.

They left the audience room. Collette was so drained that she really didn't pay much attention to where they were going. Not until she realized Faeston had led her past the public salons and dining room, up to the private suites on the second floor. They stopped, and she stared dully at the door to her suite. Collette turned to him with a quizzical look.

"You're going to take a nap for the rest of the afternoon," he answered to her unspoken question.

"But…"

"Nope, no arguments. And if you behave yourself, maybe later this evening I'll let you drag out that blasted game of Cradle."

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She was so amused by his offering to play Cradle that she might just forgive him for that bit about behaving.

"Is that a promise?"

"A promise."

Collette rose on tiptoe and kissed him. Faeston's arms closed around her waist and held her tight. Several minutes passed before he released her, slightly dazed.

"Go on and get inside before I forget that I brought you up here for a nap," he growled.

She kissed him once more lightly and turned away.

"Remember- you promised. We're going to play Cradle tonight. And no snarling."

As she shut the door behind her, Collette hear his muffled reply.

"I only promised to play. I didn't promise anything about snarling."

Laughing to herself, she found a comfortable pair of pajamas and slid into bed. Maybe she'd let him win once, just to show him how much his support had meant to her today. Maybe.

3/Terreille

As she studied the grim looks from her First Circle, Gwynn knew she wasn't going to like what they were about to tell her. Her Master of the Guard, Lord Nareth, looked especially forbidding at the moment. Although to be fair, he wasn't known for being cheerful. But when the rest of them looked that way it meant trouble.

"What is the Court's pleasure," she asked, opening the meeting for discussion.

"Well, I dunno about pleasure…" Lord Turrin muttered, "but I suppose we'd best start with the report from Lady Jaemie's district."

"Not another one," Gwynn replied in dismay.

"Two more witches executed in the past week. It's getting worse over there."

"And it's the same story as the last ones?"

Both Warlords nodded, but it was Nareth who spoke first.

"Yes, Lady. Accused of being Dhemlan spies and tortured for not confessing to it."

"As if confessing would have done any good. She tortures them either way."

Well she'd been right. She definitely hadn't wanted to hear any of this. Lady Jaemie had become much stronger in the last few weeks than she had been when Raenel was here. All thanks to this new doctrine passed down from Meredith. The Queen was claiming Dhemlan was trying to take over Hayll.

Ridiculous. Dhemlans weren't at all interested in Hayll. Maybe if they had been all those centuries ago, we might not have seen the rise of a tyrant like Meredith.

Gwynn couldn't stop that thought. Raenel had told her several times why Dhemlan hadn't stepped in to save them from Meredith and Valinna. She still thought that they should have done it anyway.

Thoughts for another day. Gwynn tucked them away and turned her attention back to her First Circle.

"I want patrols of the border between her district and ours doubled," she ordered. "If Lady Jaemie thinks she's coming hunting in our community for her political games, she's mistaken."

"As you command, Lady," Nareth replied.

"Also, I don't want anyone crossing over into the other districts- especially hers- without consent from the Court first."

Raised eyebrows around the circle.

"Are we closing the district, Lady?"

"Not closing it," she assured them. "Just restricting traffic for the time being."

"Won't that raise suspicion if anyone in Lady Jaemie's court come knocking? They'll find it strange if suddenly they're turned away without an explanation."

It would. Gwynn sat back in her chair and stared at the plastered ceiling overhead. She tried to concentrate on an answer to Nareth's question, but she was distracted by the panels that needed repairing. Tomorrow she'd have to meet with a carpenter. Much more pleasant to think about that problem than this thing with Lady Jaemie.

What could she do to protect them?

After several more minutes of staring, Gwynn thought she came up with an idea. If nothing else, she could at least get their opinion on the plan.

"Then we give them an explanation."

"And what would that be, Lady?"

"Make coming into our district sound as unappealing as possible," she explained. "For instance- who would want to walk into a place ravaged by illness? Definitely not anyone in Meredith's coven."

Turrin caught on first.

"You want us to imply to any unwelcome visitor that they'll become infected with some terrible illness if they continue."

Gwynn thought for a minute or two in the pause following his question.

"Implications are all well and good, but giving them a show might help convince them. A few strategically placed bins of used healing supplies would be a good start. And we have a few Black Widows who can manage illusion spells."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Yes, Lord Nareth, I am absolutely serious."

Chairs creaked as several of them shifted in their seats. Someone coughed, but Gwynn didn't see who. She nervously awaited what they'd say about her plan, and hoped it wouldn't be too critical.

"It might work," Nareth said slowly. "But my biggest concern is what happens if it doesn't work. What do we do if one of them comes into the district and realizes that it's only a bluff?"

"It would put us in a tight spot, Lady. On one hand, trying to keep the witch quiet might get us noticed by Lady Jaemie or the rest of the coven. On the other, letting her go back with news of the lie would bring them down on us, anyway."

Damn. She hadn't quite thought it through that far, but Turrin was right. Without knowing for certain that the illusions would fool those bitches, it was too dangerous to use them. Gwynn snarled in frustration.

"Yeah, forget that idea. It's too risky."

"Let's not be too quick to toss it out," her Steward, Prince Ellard spoke up suddenly. "I think we could pull it off with some planning."

"What kind of planning did you have in mind?"

"Everyone's thinking we only have two outcomes. Either they buy the illusions and leave, or they find us out."

Turrin looked perplexed, scratching his head.

"What other outcome could there be?"

Ellard ran a hand absently over the arm of his chair, seeming to waver in his decision whether to continue or not. But he shrugged and said it, anyway.

"Supposing one of them does get sick? Sick enough to keep the others from coming around here."

Gwynn was shocked. Was Ellard really suggesting they force a witch to become ill? She was pretty sure that Raenel wouldn't approve of this if she were here to hear it. It sounded a little too close to something Meredith and her coven might do. Even if it was to protect her own people.

Some of the other First Circle members were looking as uncomfortable with the idea as she was. But Turrin and Nareth were merely thoughtful. Mother Night. They were seriously considering the idea.

"Just how were you going to accomplish that, Ellard," Nareth wanted to know.

"My youngest daughter got into something she shouldn't have last month and we took her to a Healer. The witch gave her a tonic to help her rid it from her body."

"I don't think we need the details what that means," Turrin said hastily.

"No, likely not. But if that tonic were concentrated into something slightly more powerful and offered in a drink…it would create the illusion of being violently ill."

Gwynn felt she needed to speak up now before this went any further.

"Healers aren't supposed to hurt people. They're Healers, Prince."

Everyone's head turned in her direction, but no one said anything. She stood up and walked to the center of the half-circle of males in her First Circle.

"I want to protect our people as much as all of you, but this idea is dangerous."

"It's not as risky as you might think, Lady."

"I didn't say risky, Warlord. In truth, it's a brilliant plan that would probably work perfectly."

"Then why…"

She silenced them with a sharp look.

"I said it's dangerous," Gwynn emphasized. "It sends the message that we're no better than Meredith."

"This is nothing like…"

"Like a witch who poisons Blood males with safframate? Meredith and her coven rationalize that just as well as what you're trying to do now. It 'provides a distraction for males so they don't plan rebellions', they say. Besides, the coven 'needs serviced. All the better if males are able to perform'. Any of that sound familiar?"

No one wanted to meet her eyes, finding anything else in the room to look at instead. She wasn't sure if it was the mention of safframate or that she was getting through to them. Gwynn kept going anyway.

"We've all heard from Lady Raenel what the original purpose of safframate was for, and how it was corrupted by the Blood before us. Corrupted to the point that I don't think we'll ever undo the damage done by it.

"If we ask this Healer to make a tonic that essentially becomes a poison, how long will it take for that idea to spread? Where would it stop and who would start asking? I don't want to see us get to the point where people are afraid to visit a Healer because they don't know if they'll walk away with a cure or a poison.

"Had I known where this would end, I would have never…" Gwynn drew an unsteady breath. "I'd rather risk the bloodshed of an open confrontation."

When she turned away from them, she heard someone stand up. Gwynn ignored the sound and kept moving. Right now, she couldn't help wondering if her instincts had been wrong when she'd chosen this Court. Raenel had told her that she'd chosen well, but had she really?

What kind of males had she selected if they had this in them? And Gwynn had to admit that she didn't know what kind of Queen she was not to have seen it. She just wanted to curl up somewhere far away from this room and the males in it.

"Lady," Nareth said, very close behind her.

"Yes, Warlord?" she replied, feeling hollowed out.

"We never meant to do any serious harm."

"I know."

"It was wrong to suggest we tamper with a Healer's Craft. You were right to be critical."

She heard genuine remorse in his voice, which was the only reason she found the strength to turn around again. Turrin was just as downcast, and Ellard looked ready to die of shame. He tried twice to add something of his own to what Nareth had said. Finally, he managed to get the words out.

"Lady, I'm so very sorry that I've disappointed you by making such an unworthy suggestion."

"You meant well, Prince."

"And my best intentions could possibly have destroyed what we want to save."

He sounded sincere. But Gwynn was so shaken that she wasn't sure she could trust the words. She had to know. Or she couldn't call herself their Queen anymore.

Just like Raenel taught her, Gwynn sent out a subtle psychic probe in the room to get a sense of how her Court was feeling. Distress travelled strongly back to her. And fear that this error was serious enough that she'd dismiss them. Ellard was especially worried, regretting that he may have just doomed any chance to show her what he could do for the district.

She reeled in the probe, feeling her own doubts begin to dissipate. It was still unnerving that they'd come up with the suggestion in the first place. But at least she didn't sense any true malice in them. Her instincts about them had just been temporarily shaken, that's all. Gwynn managed to find a tiny smile.

"Good thing that we're all in this together so we can help put each other on the right path again when we go astray."

Her words healed some of the discord between them. Not all of it, though. It would be a while before they could get back the balance they'd had. But for now she could see gratitude in their eyes to know that she'd forgiven them enough to keep the Court. Ellard nodded slowly.

"A good thing indeed, Lady."

"What are we going to do to get on the right path again," Turrin asked tentatively. "We're back where we started."

"I don't have any answers to that right now," she admitted.

"If I may suggest- why don't we hold off on making any changes regarding visitors to the district. We can restrict our own people from going into other districts, but wait until we have a better plan before we bar anyone from entering."

Gwynn considered Nareth's suggestion and decided that it was the best action to take for now. As much as she wanted to keep Lady Jaemie and anyone else from Meredith's coven out of her district, it wasn't safe to act on it until they had a plan. And maybe after a few more meetings, they'd come up with one that everyone could live with.

"It's a cautious road to take, but I think it's the right one for now." She cast her gaze around the semi-circle and let out a breath. "I don't know about all of you, but I'm exhausted. If there's nothing else pressing, why don't we adjourn until tomorrow?"

"A break would be welcome- for all of us," Turrin said truthfully. "And it would give us time to reach out to the community about the new restriction about the district border."

"Very good. We'll pick this discussion up again in the morning."

With that, everyone trickled out of the room. Eventually, Gwynn was the only one left. She collapsed into her chair and ran her hands through her hair. If she had too many more days like this, she'd wind up bald in no time.

Raenel, I could really use your help right now, she thought plaintively. I sure hope you'll be back soon so I can pick your brain for a solution to this mess.