"You must send out to them and bring them back for punishment," reTaggin stood on the first step of the dais to harangue Marriette. If he wasn't careful, he would trip and slice himself open on the sword standing in the stone a step or two away from the throne.

"Don't you mean, Please Regent, ask Lady Joan to present herself so she may give her account of events."

"My nephew was stabbed in the back," the old man said. "It doesn't matter what he was ...