Princess Yasmin met them in her solar, a hot, windowed room full of plants and greenery. She was wearing another black dress, but her hair was out of the bun now, and hanging freely, which made the white stripe that ran through it all the more noticeable. She had been watering her plants, evidently, but she put the pitcher down when Arai and Lillandra were escorted into the room.

  "Allow me to introduce myself," she said, rather imperiously. "I am Yasmin, the Crown Princess of Elent, the Orb-Bearer, the Princess of Rook and Sceptre."

  Arai had heard this speech before. "It's an honor, Your Highness."

  "You are the ones who captured Nessa, the assassin who killed my sister?"

  He nodded. "We encountered her in Desperation Pass," he said. "She had fallen in with the bandits who make their meager living in the Riven Mountains."

  "How did you come to capture her?"

  Yasmin had not even asked for their names yet, which seemed rather rude to Arai, but he answered the question anyway: "The bandits were planning on attacking the caravan. She attacked us because we were about to warn them." He shrugged. "We overpowered her."

  "The two of you, together?"

  "Well, there were four of us, actually. But why do you want to know?"

  "You are aware that Nessa was the assassin who committed the Skile Massacre, five years ago? It wasn't just my sister she killed; she murdered many others, including several of our elite guards. She was probably trained by the Society of the Nine Wolves. That she could be captured by a mere caravan guard--"

  "I'm not a caravan guard," Arai broke in. He had met a handful of haughty nobles before, and knew how to act around them, but the woman was testing his patience. "I am Arai, son of Hetsu, a disciple of the Three Waves school of swordsmanship, and Lillandra..." He paused here, suddenly realizing that it might not be a good idea to reveal Lillandra's true identity; the Night Queen, after all, was well-known in these western nations. "Is a sorceress," he finished. "And there were four of us, as I said. Sir Estil, the knight who actually managed to outfight her, is a legend in Galleus. He may be the greatest warrior that nation has ever seen."

  Yasmin frowned at him. "Is that so?"

  "Yes. But I ask again, why do you want to know?"

  "I want to know exactly what happened," she said, through gritted teeth. "I want you to tell me everything, from beginning to end. Did you speak with her? Did she mention Skile? Did she tell you anything at all?"

  Arai sighed, sat down, and with Lillandra helping to fill in the gaps, told the princess everything he could remember about the very few and very brief conversations they had had with Nessa. He didn't mention the fact that the assassin had spoken to him the previous night, however; he thought it might be wiser to keep that to himself.

  Yasmin interrupted the story several times, trying to jog their memories further, but there simply wasn't much to tell -- after fighting her, capturing her, and locking her up in one of the wagons, neither Arai nor Lillandra had had much of anything to do with her. Arai did mention the curved dagger she had been carrying, though, which they still had in their possession. "She said that she'd taken it from someone that Queen Alfaze had sent after her," he said. "Whatever that meant."

  "Mother," Yasmin muttered. "Taking matters into her own hands, I suppose." She stopped, then, and sighed, and her expression suddenly softened. "You must forgive me if I seem...discourteous. Where these matters are concerned, I'm afraid I have some difficulty controlling my passions. I loved my sister, and I swore to avenge her. I knew that the assassin had fled into the Crag, and from there to the Riven, but that was all I knew. And now that she's escaped..." She balled her fists. "The fact that she managed to slip through my fingers once again is very, very frustrating."

  "How did she manage it?" Lillandra asked.

  "We're not exactly sure," the princess answered. "There were two men guarding her cell; both were killed. Nessa may have acquired a weapon, killed them, and slipped away -- she's more than capable of something like that, I'm sure -- or someone else may have killed the guards and released her. We're still trying to piece it together. The Queen's Men have been alerted, and all the main roads have been covered, but I don't think they'll find her. She'll probably escape into the desert and return to her bandit friends."

  "Who would want to release her?" Arai asked.

  "I have my suspicions," Yasmin muttered darkly. "But you'll forgive me if I don't share them with you. I'm more inclined to trust you, because you're outsiders, but it's also possible you're working for my enemies."

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  "Enemies?"

  "Thank you for your time," she said, rising to her feet. "My driver will return you to the palace."

  And that was the end of the conversation; Arai and Lillandra were immediately dismissed and escorted back to the carriage. "That was strange," Lillandra commented.

  "Elentish politics," Arai said, shrugging.

  They climbed into the carriage, which began making its way back to the Akane Palace. They were just crossing a bridge over a glittering canal, near the center of the city, when the carriage came to a sudden halt. Peering out the window, Arai saw that it had been stopped by a pair black-and-yellow-jacketed Queen's Men, who had now begun arguing with Princess Yasmin's driver.

  "What's going on?" Lillandra asked.

  "I'm not sure," Arai said. "Smells like trouble, though."

  Eventually, the driver threw up his hands in frustration and allowed the Queen's Men to approach the carriage. Arai and Lillandra were ordered out.

  "You're to come with us," one of the men said. "Minister D'mai wishes to speak with you."

  Arai and Lillandra exchanged a glance. "First Princess Yasmin, now Minister D'mai," Arai mused. "A lot of important people are wanting to talk to us today, it seems."

  The Queen's Men directed them into another carriage, which took them to another estate, nearer to Akane Palace but much less extravagant. A few minutes later they found themselves in Minister D'mai's library, and in the presence of Minster D'mai himself, who was busily sorting through a stack of papers on his desk. One of the Queen's men had to clear his throat to get his attention.

  "Ah," he said, getting up from his seat and coming around the desk to greet them. "Arai, wasn't it? I've been waiting for you. And this young lady is Lillandra, I take it? Would either of you care for some tea?"

  "No, thank you," Arai said. "What's this all about? Why were you so anxious to speak with us that you sent the Queen's Men to intercept us?"

  He gave them an apologetic sort of smile. "Ah. I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to alarm you. I only wanted to speak with you before you returned to the Akane; the palace is crawling with Yasmin's spies."

  "Spies?"

  He sighed. "I hate to involve you in this, but this assassin's sudden appearance, and subsequent escape, has stirred up something of a hornet's nest here in the capital. Please, sit."

  They sat down on one of the couches, while D'mai began pacing back and forth, from one end of the room to the other. "You spoke with Princess Yasmin this morning. What did she tell you? What did you talk about?"

  "Not much," Arai said guardedly, wondering how much he ought to disclose. "She asked us about Nessa -- she wanted to know how we captured her; she wanted to know the details of our conversations with her."

  "And what did you tell her?"

  "The truth," he said, shrugging. "Nessa attacked us in the Riven. We captured her and brought her back to Elent. She had very little to say along the way."

  "Ah."

  "If you don't mind my asking," Arai said, "what exactly is going on here? I get the very strong impression that Princess Yasmin doesn't like you all that much, but is the feeling mutual?"

  "We don't see eye to eye, in terms of policy," he admitted, "but there's a little more to it than that. I don't know that I should tell you this, but..." He frowned deeply. "You know the story of the Skile Massacre?"

  "Of course."

  "It was a terrible crime. This woman Nessa infiltrated Princess Nattali's suite and killed over a dozen people, including Nattali herself. But Nessa wasn't acting alone. It was Quentis who ordered the assassination."

  "I've heard this," Arai said.

  D'mai nodded. "Quentis was Queen Alfaze's grandniece. She was a claimant to the throne of Elent, from the Pantheme bloodline. The Pantheme are rivals to the Palais -- that's the line Queen Alfaze comes from -- but we have had Pantheme queens in the past and there are many Panthemes among the nobility. Quentis was Princess Yasmin's cousin, and one of her best friends."

  "I see."

  "After the Skile Massacre, I produced evidence that Quentis had been behind the assassination. She had always been a plotter, a schemer, and absolutely ruthless in her pursuit of power, but Yasmin refused to see any of that, and she refused to believe that Quentis was responsible for her sister's murder. Alas, the evidence was overwhelming. Quentis herself fled the capital immediately after the assassination."

  Arai knew this part of the story. "She went to the Tessians?"

  He nodded. "She thought she would be safe there. The people of the Craglands have always been stalwart supporters of the Pantheme...and they proved their loyalty by refusing to hand over Quentis." He put up a palm. "Queen Alfaze had little choice. She attacked the Crag, captured Quentis, and had her put to death. Princess Yasmin never forgave her mother for that. To this day, she refuses to believe that Quentis had anything to do with Nattali's murder." He finally stopped pacing and sat down on another one of the library's plush couches. "But now the assassin has returned, and the matter has once again been brought to the fore. All the old rivalries and resentments are bubbling back up."

  "Do you have any idea how Nessa might have escaped?" Lillandra asked.

  "Honestly," D'mai said sadly, "I think Princess Yasmin may have freed her intentionally, possibly to spite her mother. But I have no proof of that."

  Arai didn't think much of this theory; Yasmin's determination to capture Nessa and avenge her sister had seemed perfectly sincere to him. But he didn't know the woman, and he supposed she could have been acting.

  "Did Nessa tell you anything, on the way out of the Riven Mountains?" D'mai asked. "Did she admit that Quentis hired her?"

  "She didn't tell us anything," Arai said carefully. "She was very tight-lipped, in fact."

  D'mai seemed to consider that -- Arai got the impression that he was trying to determine whether they were telling the truth. Finally, he exhaled, stood up, and said, "That will be all, then. I apologize again for involving you in this affair; it's always been a rather ugly business. Thank you, Arai, and thank you...Lillandra?" He frowned suddenly. "That's the name of Velon's Night Queen, isn't it?"

  "It is."

  "Is it a common name, where you come from?"

  "It was," Lillandra said distantly. "A long time ago."