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It had been aher Master of the Guard ht appear too much like a threat, and her Steward had to stay in Bhak to take care of all theboring details That left Jhorle—the males ere dominant in a court because they dealt with the Queen directly

When she’d decided to co Cassidy thatshe was the Queen Jhorma had chosen to serve and pleasure would intih that Cassidy wouldn’t keep ignoring the Queen’s gift whichshould have been left as the seed money for Kermilla’s personal expenses

But Cassidy had seen JhorryAnd that dark-eyed Warlord Prince was soscary ! He looked like he wanted to rip out her throat with histeeth !

It wasn’t fun being a ruling Queen It should have been, but it wasn’t Being in Cassidy’s court for her training had been great fun She had danced and flirted and talked and attended the luncheons with the—well, they weren’t aristos, but they were the most influential people you could find in a place like Bhak Sure, she had to follow Cassidy around to “learn” how to be a Queen, as if she didn’tkno to be a Queen, and she had made careful notes about what duties she would keep and what duties—theboring duties—she would require the Ladies in her First Circle to shoulder

Then she found out she’d have to pay anyone as officially in her First Circle, so she’d limited that Circle to the necessary twelveduties, and since theywere boring, she hadn’t bothered with them half the ti her a list of complaints every day And her Master of the GuardWell, he’d seeun to serve her, and he’d been adarling when she’d been training with Cassidy Now she dreaded talking to hirie’sBlood males to use the landens for sport There was already trouble because of alittle mischief, but he’d wanted to publicly strap those boys because a landen had gotten hurt—and he hadn’t looked at her with any kind of warmth after she forbade hi over a brokenand wanting the Warlord’s faes Well, she couldn’t order that, could she? The Warlord’s sister was one of her closest friends And then the es fro her Saying it was the only thing to do if she wasn’t going to hold the Warlord responsible

She didn’t have a big enough court That was the probles so that she could be aQueen

She’d spent soe treasury, which she shouldn’t have done and wouldn’t have needed to do if Cassidy hadn’t been selfish So now she had to have the Queen’s gift in case the Province Queen’s Steward asked her Steward for a financial report She had to replace what she’d taken, orshe would end up having to justify her expenses to Lady Darlena

Even worse, because she was only twenty-one and this was her first court, Lady Sabrina, the Queen of Dharo, had given her Bhak to rule for one year A proving ground, Sabrina had called it If the villages, Bhak and landen Woolskin, prospered under her rule, she could keep them If not, Sabrina would declare her court broken and arbitrarily reassign her males to other courts, and she would have to fore to rule since Bhak and Woolskin would be given to another Queen

It was allvery distressing

“Are you all right?”

She gasped at the sound of a strangeat her eyes so she looked as woeful as she felt

Mine

The shock of it rocked her, that pull, thatdemand that she be the one to hold the emotional leash that would keep hi like this Was shesupposed to feel anything like this?

“Yes, thank you, I’m fine,” she said “A little distressed is all I seem to have come at a bad time and upset Cassidy”

He was so handsoolden brown skin There was a hardness to hi a Warlord Prince as ready to fight, thisfields thatmattered