Blade's first instinct was to go on crouching in the bushes, waiting for the warriors lying in wait in the forest to make their move or for Queen Sanaya to laugh herself into a fit. She was barefoot and wore a flowing blue robe held by an emerald clasp at the throat. Her laughter was low and bubbling, but it somehow echoed around the clearing, and it had a note in it that was not altogether sane.

But Queen Sanaya appeared to know that he-or someone-was close at hand. It would be dangerous to lie here until the queen's unreliable temper broke. It would be less dangerous to rise to his feet and confront her.

Blade thrust his sword back into its sheath and slowly rose to his feet. He kept his arms well out from his side and his fingers spread, to avoid alarming either the queen or some nervous archer or spearman.

Queen Sanaya turned as Blade rose. Her laughter cut off as abruptly as if someone had gripped her by the throat. Her eyes widened. She might have seemed surprised or even frightened, except that her mouth curved into a broad, almost smugly triumphant smile.

«So, Prince Blade,» she said. «You came forth into the woods.»

«I came forth to where I thought I was needed,» said Blade, correcting her in a carefully neutral tone of voice.

«You are a sentimental man.»

«There are two opinions about that, here as in most lands-my Lady Queen.» Blade was tempted to leave out her title, but that would be too crude and deliberate a slight. He wanted her to go on talking.

Sanaya shrugged. «What does one more or less of those dirty mountain men matter to you?»

«It is enough to say that he does matter,» said Blade. «I would rather not spend further time arguing the point with you, if there is a man who needs aid.»

Queen Sanaya laughed again. It was actually more of a low chuckle, and once again Blade had the sense of something not quite sane lurking behind Sanaya's beauty and smiles.

«Then I take it that there is indeed no one who was bitten by a snake?»

«Take what you will, Prince Blade. You seem to be that sort of man.»

Blade looked around the clearing, seeking any signs of either wounded men or lurking warriors. He found no sign of the first, but there were six or seven of the latter. The warriors of Gleor were good woodsmen and skilled at concealing themselves. Blade's eyes were even more skilled at picking men out of any sort of concealment.

Queen Sanaya's presence was still a mystery. From all that Blade knew of her, she was fond of her comforts. She would not be tramping about the forests like this merely to act as bait in an ambush by Blade's enemies. It was a mystery he needed to solve.

«Well, I see no man bitten by a snake,» he said. «But I think I see a snake here in the clearing.»

Queen Sanaya's face hardened. «That may be so.»

«It is so. And I think it is a snake that has bitten a good many men so badly that no Kaireen's skill could hope to save them.»

«You have strange fancies, Blade.»

«Is it certain that they are stranger than yours? You come forth from a perfumed bed in the warm house of the king to these cold damp forests. You draw me into the forests by a lie. You have indeed strange fancies, if you expect to accomplish anything at all by this.»

«Indeed?»

«Yes. And do not pull out that toy dagger from your belt and wave it at me. That will accomplish least of all.»

«You might be surprised, Blade. There may be no serpent here, but there is the power of a serpent's tooth.»

Blade took that to mean that the dagger was poisoned. Well, that was about what he might expect of Queen Sanaya.

«Besides,» she went on, «you have doubtless noticed those who keep watch. They could do even more than my dagger.»

«Perhaps,» said Blade. «And again, perhaps not.» In a split second he shifted position. Now he stood only inches from the queen, on the side away from her dagger. He was also between her and most of the warriors. «Neither spearmen nor archers can easily strike at me without hitting you. If I were to seize you, what could they do?»

Sanaya's dark eyebrows rose. «Indeed, they will probably not attack. They are good men, among the best I could find. Instead they will watch whatever you do, while some of them run to tell the tale to King Embor and the clan chiefs. What do you imagine they will say and do, when they learn that Prince Blade has attacked the Queen of Draad?»

Blade was perfectly able to imagine what might happen in that case. He had no intention of admitting that to the queen, though.

«Things would be interesting, I am sure.»

The queen smiled thinly. «You play your game well, Blade. Your wits are not the dullest of your weapons.» She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then licked her lips and said, «Would you like to know how to keep things from becoming-'interesting'?»

«I think, my lady Queen, you will tell me or show me that way, whether I want to learn it or not.»

That sharp reply silenced the queen entirely for a moment. Apparently she'd expected a more elegant answer. Elegance be damned! thought Blade. Unless it helped him find out what her game was, he was not going to be particularly polite to this royal bitch.

Instead of speaking, Queen Sanaya stepped backward, away from Blade. Then she beckoned him forward. When he was only a couple of feet from her, the queen looked quickly to either side, scanning the bushes and trees around the clearing. Then one hand went to her throat. Her fingers worked at the copper and emerald clasp of her robe, and with a faint click it opened..

Slowly, as though it was caressing her skin as it fell, Sanaya's robe slid down off her shoulders. She let it fall as far as her waist and then caught it with both hands. She stood there, full breasts bare and the nipples already crinkling and hardening as the chill air blew against them. Her eyes were fixed on Blade's face, trying to read his expression.

Blade kept his face expressionless. He wasn't surprised at what the queen had done, even if he hadn't exactly seen it coming. So that was the first part of her plan, was it?

Other parts of his body weren't quite so expressionless. If Sanaya had been able to read them- But she couldn't, at least not yet.

«Well?» said Blade, his voice as cool as he could make it. He suspected the queen was planning to say that word herself, which was why he had used it.

Sanaya was silent for another long moment. Apparently Blade's cool tone was bothering her. Slowly she tied her robe around her waist. Then she brought her hands slowly upward, fingers spread and palms against the smooth, coffee-hued skin of her flat stomach. Her hands rose to cup her breasts. Blade's mind held a moment's vision of his own hands doing the same. The queen's voice was not quite steady when she spoke again.

«Have you hopes, Blade?»

Blade still kept his face straight, although this was becoming more and more of an effort. «Any man has hopes, my Lady Queen.»

«Yes, that I know. I also have hopes, though I am but a woman. Help me reach out and grasp those hopes, Prince Blade. Help me.» The raw, bubbling desire in her voice was only just under control.

«And if I do not help you?»

Her voice steadied, and for a moment the cold, calculating intriguer looked out of her large dark eyes at Blade.

«Then I will run out into the clearing as I am, crying that you have tried to rape me. Many in Draad will not be happy to hear of your lack of control over your desires.»

That was a grim certainty. King Embor might or might not forgive Blade for trying to rape his queen and wife. The king was a man of vast patience, but that vast?

Neena would have a fit. Although she might not be driven to violence, she would never let Blade hear the end of the matter. He would no longer be able to rely on her help, advice, and influence.