"What makes you think I'm the King of anything?" Harald asked. Bless all those years of keeping a straight face in Council.

"The stick you're carrying," Rodrigo said, "is covered with runes of power only a king's ransom could pay for. Nobody leaves things holding them lying around. Either you're the King, or the one bound to the King."

"What is it to you who I am?" He poked at the fire. Sarandia slept under his cloak.  He remembered the first time he'd seen her, ...