My grandmother blushed and smiled up at the brutal warrior. “Lovely to meet you, Chief Braxis.”
“Prince Nial.” Braxis finally held his hand out to my uncle.
“Yes, yes, nice to meet you,” my uncle shook Braxis hand irritably. “But why are you here? It's not exactly the best time for a Danutian vacation.”
“I'm here to help. Amara has foreseen that I will be needed.”
Nial looked at me and raised an auburn brow.
“It's a long story,” I said. “How about I tell you after we get Danu's magic back?”
“Finally, you say something worthwhile,” Elisande sneered.
Braxis' head swung to face the Eastern Queen as he let out a low growl. “Do not ever speak to her like that again.”
Queen Elisande drew herself upright and somehow managed to stare down her nose at Braxis. “You think because you're large in stature that you are powerful but in Danu, physical strength means very little. I could kill you with a flick of my finger. So, if you have any sense in that overgrown head of yours,youwill never speak tomelike that again.”
“You may have magic, but I'd wager that I could tear your head off before you flicked your fingers.” Braxis bared his teeth at her. “Can your magic save you from that, Your Majesty?”
Elisande paled.
Varian stepped forward with his hand on the pommel of his sword. “You are a newly arrived visitor to our realm and you've already insulted one of our queens. This world is not like the one you've come from. Perhaps you'd do better to remember that and remain silent.”
Braxis bared his teeth at Varian. Varian started to pull his sword.
“As amusing as this is,” Everan drawled as he stepped between the two men. “We don't have the time for it. So, I will end this disagreement now. Braxis, this is my realm and I will protect my wife's honor if need be. In Amara's case, that is rarely necessary because she is more than capable of fighting her own battles, especially when it's a battle of words. So, stand down.”
Braxis shocked me by inclining his head respectfully to Everan. “My apologies, King Everan. And to you, Amara. I acted on impulse.”
Everan lifted a brow at me before nodding to Braxis. Then he turned to face Varian and Elisande. “That being said, I have stood by long enough while you've needled my wife with your disrespect. It stops now, Elisande, or after Amaranthine saves our realm, there will be war between our kingdoms.”
Elisande cleared her throat daintily and nodded.
“And you.” Everan looked Varian up and down.
“Yes?” Varian asked warily.
“Well done in defending your queen.”
Varian blinked in surprise before bowing to Everan. As a prince, he didn't have to make such a gesture but he hadn't always been a prince and old habits die hard.
“Now, can we get the magic out of that thief?” King Dranalt asked impatiently.
“Yes.” Everan held his arm out to me. “Or rather, one of us can.”
“Hopefully,” I muttered as I took his arm.
Chapter Forty-Nine
“I'm surprised that you managed to catch the thief,” I said as we entered the clean, bright space in the bowels of the Northern Stronghold that served as a dungeon. “Is the thief a man or a woman?”
“The thief is a man,” my grandfather answered. “One of our miners, as you deduced. His name is Halvram. When we summoned the miners under the premise of a discussion on new equipment, he came to the castle with them. We had a room prepared with a magic-suppressing ward for the meeting and led them there. Unfortunately, the mages weren't able to complete their device in time but your husband stood near the entrance of the meeting room and was able to ascertain which man was our thief by his asha. Then it was a simple matter of binding the thief in magic-suppressing shackles and transferring him to a cell.”
Dungeons in Danu weren't used often and tended to have little resemblance to the dungeons of medieval castles. They weren't dark or dirty or even very depressing. They did have barred cells though, and those bars were enchanted to suppress magic just like the shackles that had been used when transporting the thief. This dungeon was as clean as the one in the South, had only six cells, and each cell had a bed as well as the Danutian version of a toilet. The last cell also held a man.
The man was average for a Danutian—of slim build, fair skin, and blond hair—but when I switched to my other sight, his sparkling aura billowed out to fill the entire cell. It would likely have filled the entire room if the bars hadn't been restricting it. The cell may have been suppressing his magic but it didn't have an effect on the colors in his aura. I had no idea what his base colors were, they were hidden by the emerald green of Earth and the citrine yellow of Air. The sparkles within those colors were brighter than any I'd seen in any Danutian asha.
I stepped before the thief's cell in a sort of daze, staring at his asha more than him. He had been sitting calmly on the single bed and stood with a soft, welcoming smile as I approached. His asha shimmered and a wave of glittering light washed against the magical barrier created by the bars.
