"From the way you say that, and from the way you're coloring, it has to be from a man. About whom you've had unchaste thoughts."

Helspeth felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

Lady Hilda laughed softly.

"It's not funny."

"I wasn't… Never mind. You poor girl. Your age and never been touched. Too valuable a counter in the game of empire." She extended a hand. "Let me see what he says."

Helspeth felt like she was caught in a trance.

Lady Hilda was not impressed. "Plainly, he isn't any more practiced at this than you are. And he doesn't get carried away saying anything romantic or concrete. Does he?"

"You don't understand. The important thing is, he replied. I almost died of anxiety waiting to see if he would."

"You wrote to him? First?"

Heat in the cheeks again. "Yes. Several times. I…"

"Not the way the jongleurs sing it."

"I can't help it. I'm fascinated. Like the mouse in stories about mice and snakes."

"This snake doesn't sound eager to catch a mouse. He sounds wary. He's afraid you're a living pitfall."

Helspeth grimaced. Princess Apparent Helspeth Ege, lethal pitfall.

Had she truly pelted the Captain-General with letters while she was in Brothe? She had gotten no opportunity to do anything but exchange glances with him, otherwise. The one time they might have met, he had gotten caught in an explosion beforehand.

The big thing was, he had answered her. Twice.

The second letter she would share with no one. Ever. It contained hints that fed her imagination. And might be enough to betray their author.

"Are you going to report this?"

"Of course not. I'm supposed to protect your soul, not your chastity. You do have sense enough to know you need to remain a virgin, don't you? Anyway, this can't go anywhere."

"I'm not… It isn't a matter of…"

"Calm down. I know what you're going through. Though I didn't go through it till I'd been married a while. I was just ready to turn seventeen. I was pregnant. For the third time. I'm pregnant a lot. The first two times I miscarried. And that one would be stillborn, later. Strumwulf was off to the Holy Lands. He'd be gone for two years. I'm saying things I shouldn't."

Helspeth took her letter back. She folded it and slipped it into the hiding place it occupied when the other women were around. "Are you ashamed?"

Lady Hilda seemed surprised. Like that had not occurred to her. "No. The flesh has its hungers. Some endure them more easily than others. Can you imagine a dragon like Lady Chevra engaged in passionate congress? The victim of her appetites?"

"You can't control yours?"

"I can. I don't want to. You can't possibly understand, now. You may not even after you're married. If you fail to marry a man who shows you the best of that."

Lady Hilda's sour tone suggested direct knowledge. She continued. "The final, ugly truth is, your husband will end up more interested in some pliant peasant slut… Never mind. I have no room to be bitter. Providence fashions some of us to be rutting animals, Princess, with little more self-control than coupling dogs."

"You aren't helping me, Lady Hilda. You make me ache for a lover to show me the pleasures hinted at in the songs of the jongleurs."

"I apologize, Princess. I don't intend to make you regret your virginity. Ignore me. Your innocence is priceless on the marriage market."

"I'm sure." Sourly. Though she understood her value to the Empire. Of Johannes Blackboots's children she was most like the Ferocious Little Hans.

"I doubt you'll bear the burden long, Princess. The factions at Alten Weinberg are shopping for husbands for you and Katrin, both. If your sister had her choice she'd take Peter of Navaya."

"But…"

"He's taken. And all she knows about him is a painting she saw in Brothe. She was taken with his beard."

"Really?"

"Really. Katrin feels the fire but doesn't know what it is. Or doesn't want to acknowledge it."

"She always scorned that when we were younger."

"The court would like to make a match for her in Arnhand, with Regard of Menand or the son of the Count of Earistnei, a cousin of Charlve some want to succeed Charlve."

"Wouldn't marriage to the Empress decide the succession?"

"Probably. For you the leading candidate is the Duke of Brandecast."

"Who? Uh… Shouldn't your betrothed be somebody you've heard of?"

"Errol, first Duke of Brandecast. The oldest son of King Brill of Santerin. The Crown Prince. You'd be queen, someday."

"And forever at war with my sister if she was Queen of Arnhand. But your smirk tells me there's a joke here somewhere."

"Errol is eleven years old."

Helspeth sputtered. Ridiculous! But similar arrangements happened all the time.

Lady Hilda said, "There's also talk about Jaime of Castauriga, in Direcia. Your sister wants a Direcian connection. Jaime is younger than you, too, but he's seventeen. And will be king – unless Navaya swallows Castauriga. Jaime is both handsome and a seasoned rakehell."

"Considering those options, I don't think I'll marry. The Empire will survive."

"The Empire may, Princess. But will the Empress?"

"Excuse me?"

"There's disaffection already. Katrin's rapprochement with Sublime is unpopular. Her granting the Society the right to operate inside the Empire is unpopular. Her decree that churches in the Empire must forward twelve percent of their incomes to Brothe to finance the war on heresy is unpopular. She's won no friends at all."

"She overstepped herself. Even my father wouldn't have dared tell the Church how to distribute its monies. Even if Defender of the Faith has been added to the Imperial titles. What is it, Claire?"

Claire was a fair-haired wisp of ten, the daughter of one of Helspeth's new attendants.

"I'm to tell you that a man named Ferris Renfrow is here. Captain Drear said to tell you."

"I'll be there shortly. Lady Hilda. Help me make myself presentable."

"Can we dispense with the formalities in private, Princess? Just call me Hilda. You're excited. Is this him? The spymaster? Or is it the Braunsknechts captain?"

"Neither. Ferris Renfrow was my father's friend. He's like a second father to me. I like having him around. He makes me feel safe."

Lady Hilda accompanied Helsepth to her audience. "Most of the Council Advisory don't want you here, on your own, with the Jagos between you and them, Princess. Playing at being a man again. The Grand Duke and the Lord Admiral both have volunteered to take you into their households."

"I envy the peasants their freedom from such nonsense."

"You wouldn't envy them anything else."

As usual, Ferris Renfrow was tired and Algres Drear was worried. Neither said anything substantial till Claire and Lady Hilda cleared off.

Renfrow asked, "Did you enjoy your stay in the Mother City?"

"Not especially." Startled. She had forgotten how informal Ferris Renfrow was in private. "I got few chances to see the famous places or monuments."

"Or anyone."

She scowled. "What? I don't know anyone there."

Renfrow's smile was enough. He knew she had tried to see the Captain-General. Algres Drear did not. Though he might suspect.

Renfrow said, "War is coming. Chaos is coming. This may be the last summer we can cross the Jagos safely. You have choices to make, Princess."

After a pause, she said, "You've lost me."

"Sublime has unleashed his Captain-General. Told him to tame the heretics of the Connec. The Patriarchal forces gather strength from the Patriarchal States as they travel. Two of the most intimidating members of the Collegium are with them. The Captain-General and his staff have justified our fears. They've worked wonders. They've changed the way things are done in Firaldia. He may collect twenty thousand men, mainly well-equipped and properly trained veterans. Forming what may be the most professional army seen since the Old Empire.