Lyris scanned the Tabin soldiers again but could see no sign of darkness gathering on any of their faces. "I believe they are sincere, Highness."

Shasta acknowledged her with a nod. "Then I accept any and all who choose to follow me. Those who wish to fight, reclaim your weapons and horses, and let's go!"

Talon watched uneasily as the Tabin soldiers were released to retrieve their swords from the pile of confiscated blades. "Shasta, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked quietly. "Not ten minutes ago those men were trying to kill you."

"Which is why I have to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves," Shasta replied evenly. "If there's one thing I learned in my lessons with Chancellor Kumire, it's that history favors the victorious. If I send them home and we win this war, they will return to their families as little more than pardoned traitors. But if I give them the chance to stand with us, they could still go down in the history books as heroes. What man would not prefer to leave that legacy to his family?"

Talon found herself gazing at the Princess in awe. At that moment, the woman standing before her scarcely bore a resemblance to the spoiled, flighty child Talon had once known.

One of the Verdred guard appeared with Shasta's little white mare. Talon helped the Princess mount, then swung herself onto the horse provided for her. The Tabin soldiers gathered before the Princess again, this time on horseback, and Shasta looked them over.

"Who is your commander?" she asked, and after some mumbling someone shouted out that their general was dead. "Then who among you is the most experienced officer?"

One man was jostled to the front, and he saluted. "Captain Kadent, at your service, Highness."

"Captain, you've just been promoted. Are your men ready?"

His eyes widened, but he recovered quickly and gave a sharp nod. "We are, Your Highness."

"Then sound the charge, General Kadent."

He drew his sword. "Tabin guard, present arms!" he barked, and with a shing of metal every man pulled his own blade to match Kadent's salute. "Charge!"

With a roar, the men in black uniforms surged across the moors to join the Princess's army. Shasta kicked her horse and followed them, Lyris on one side and Talon on the other.

As they galloped, Talon frowned over at her. "Shasta, you can't mean to join the fighting."

"The camp is useless now. Most of the healers were killed during the Tabin attack. I'm not going to hide away anymore. If all that blue light on the horizon means anything, there probably won't be much of an enemy army left to fight once we get there, anyway."

She grinned and urged the little mare to go faster. Talon had no choice but to keep up.

As it turned out, Shasta was right. By the time they reached the battle lines, the priestesses had nearly wiped it clean of enemy forces. Enormous sections of barbarians and enemy soldiers alike were destroyed by streams of holy fire. For the first time the Princess's troops were able to break the enemy line and charge the palace walls. Lyris kept Shasta's path so clear that the Princess did not even need to lift her sword once.

When they reached the palace walls Talon gave a shout. "Now, rebels! Now!"

Atop the wall they could hear the sounds of scuffling, and after a moment a member of the royal guard fell over the edge, a dagger piercing the chest of his scarlet uniform. Then ropes began to drop, at least twenty of them, at various intervals along the wall. Talon grabbed one as it came down and turned to Shasta.

"Stay by the gates until we get them open," she ordered. "Let the soldiers in first and then follow." To Lyris, she said, "Please take care of her for me, Your Grace."

Talon swung herself out of her saddle and climbed hand over hand up the rope and over the wall of the palace grounds. When she reached the top, strong hands seized her shoulders and helped her to safety.

"Good to see you again, Marvel."

"Jen!" Talon gave her friend a fierce hug. He looked about as tired as she felt. "You actually pulled it off."

"Not quite yet. We still have to get those gates open."

"I'll go," Talon grunted. One of the royal guard tried to attack them from behind, and she sidestepped his assault with a shove that sent him tumbling over the edge of the wall. "Stay here and help the others."

She sprinted along the top of the wall toward the stairs, took them two at a time on the way down, and with a leap she skipped the bottom three altogether. She landed with her sword drawn. Unlike the barbarians and provincial soldiers, the royal guard were trained to use swordplay as an art form, a swift and deadly dance, and there were no priestesses within the palace walls to tip the odds. It was not easy cutting through them, but as more of the Princess's army made their way down the stairs, their morale boosted considerably by the sudden turning of the tide, they were able to press the guard back until they'd cleared a space around the gates.

When Talon was sure the others could hold their enemies back without her help, she turned and ran to the heavy bar that had been laid across the gates. There was a shudder from the other side. The Princess's forces had brought the battering ram, but with a solid metal bar in the way they would have to beat the gates off their hinges to get them open. Talon called for help from some of the soldiers coming down the stairs. It took twelve of them to lift the bar and drop it to the ground by their feet.

Talon flung herself backward as the battering ram came at the gates one more time and the wood splintered with a thunderous sound. The gates smashed open and soldiers streamed onto the palace grounds, the Ithyrian priestesses on their heels.

It was over in a matter of seconds. Once the priestesses set foot inside the walls, a few bursts of celestial fire were all it took to convince the remaining royal guard to surrender. By the time Shasta actually entered the grounds of her childhood home, Talon and the rest of her troops had the area completely secured, and priestesses were inspecting the captured soldiers for any signs of the telltale darkness that identified foes.

Shasta slid from her horse and wrapped her arms around Talon's neck. "We did it. We won, we won!"

Talon chuckled but shook her head. "Not yet." She pointed at the palace. "We still have to get in there. From the looks of it, that may be the hardest task yet."

Shasta followed Talon's hand with her eyes and her jaw dropped. "A moat? Kumire's dug a moat around my father's castle? But the gardens, and the courtyard..."

"They're most likely gone."

The Princess growled. "Oh, that does it. When I get my hands on that bastard, I'm going to strangle him myself. I loved those gardens." Talon put a hand around her waist, and Shasta looked up at her. "So how are we going to get in there, anyway?"

"We can't." This came from Jen, who stepped up behind them, his eyes fastened on the castle. "The place is locked up. With the moat, we can't get close enough to get in. We're going to have to wait him out. A siege."

Talon gave a nod. "That's right. No water, food, or supplies of any kind go in or out of the castle until Kumire surrenders."

"Or starves to death," Jen added dryly.

Shasta furrowed her brow. "How long will that take?"

"It's hard to say. But we don't have to figure everything out now. I think we all need some rest, don't you?"

Shasta felt like arguing, but now that Talon had mentioned rest, her body suddenly felt heavily fatigued. So she nodded and allowed herself to be led to one of the buildings on the outer palace grounds. Talon found blankets and spread them on a pile of hay for her, then helped unbuckle her armor and remove her chain mail. Shasta lay down without bothering to remove the tunic and split skirts she'd worn beneath them. Vaguely she could hear Talon instructing Jen Crossis, something about guarding the prisoners. She was nearly asleep when the outer doors closed with a familiar creaking sound, and for the first time Shasta realized where they were.

"The servants' stables," she mumbled sleepily.

"Yes." Talon settled into the blankets next to her and held out her arms.

Smiling, Shasta snuggled into the safety of her guardian's embrace. "I'm home," she whispered and fell asleep with a smile curving her lips.

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Shasta offered the same choice to the surviving vestiges of Kumire's army that she had to the Tabin guard. After surrendering, they could either join her forces or return to their families with a full pardon, so long as they made no further attempt to resist.

The barbarians, apparently realizing it was unlikely they would receive their pay now that Shasta's victory seemed assured, had retreated entirely. Many of the soldiers, particularly Monderan guard, opted to return home, grumbling under their breath even as they grudgingly admitted defeat. However, once the royal signet convinced them of Shasta's identity, most followed Tabin's example and swore allegiance to the Princess.

The soldiers of Aster and the royal guard in particular were quick to change sides, the general of Aster himself kneeling at Shasta's feet in apology for ever having lifted a sword against the rightful heir to the throne. Shasta remembered meeting the general on several occasions at court. She knew him to be a good man, and she accepted his apology without question or reproach.

Her forces set up camp both within and without the palace walls, as there were too many men to be accommodated within the castle grounds. The servants' stables became Shasta's temporary residence. Though she could have chosen any number of more comfortable buildings, she found the stables strangely comforting, a piece of the home she hadn't seen in moons. No other place could match the childhood memories those stables housed.

After several days passed without so much as a sign from within the castle, it became evident that Kumire had amassed some stores before the fighting. There was no way of knowing how long the supplies would last, so Shasta and her army settled in for a more lengthy wait.

They had no way of bridging the moat without being confronted by a hail of arrows from the ramparts above. However, they had effectively blocked all provisions from reaching the inhabitants of the castle, so that Kumire was entirely dependent upon whatever food he had accumulated. Shasta sent the wounded and injured into the infirmaries of Ardrenn to be tended while the rest waited in camp. Though this was a much more passive form of war and they had not truly won yet, morale was high and every night the soldiers played music and danced merrily for hours before retiring. Shasta made it a habit to attend and watch the frivolity, a welcome distraction from their more serious-and, she had to admit, rather boring-objective.

One such night, as the soldiers sang and cheerily toasted one another with mugs of ale brought in from the city, Shasta sat before the main campfire and watched her guardian talk with Jen Crossis, the leader of the royal guard rebels. Her lover's hands moved animatedly as she spoke, and the firelight warmed her olive skin to a rich golden color. Her deep, throaty laugh carried across the grounds to Shasta's ears, and she could not help a smile.

As if she could feel Shasta watching her, Talon looked up and met her eyes. Within moments, she had excused herself from the soldiers and come to Shasta's side.

She pressed the Princess's hand to her lips tenderly. "Something wrong, Your Highness?"

"Not at all." Shasta let her gaze drift over to Jen, who had put up his fists in a mock challenge to one of his companions. They pretended to take a few swings at one another before dissolving into laughter.

Talon followed the Princess's line of sight and nodded. "Jen's a good man. A little headstrong, perhaps, but a brave soldier."

"It makes me happy that you've found a friend." Talon looked at her quizzically, and Shasta gave a little smile. "In the entire time I've known you, you've never really had a friend of your own. You were always too busy following me around every second of the day." Her eyes returned to Jen. "It's good to see."

"Shasta." Talon's dark eyes were serious. "You know I've never regretted being at your side."

"I know." Shasta pressed her finger to her guardian's mouth. "You've always been completely dedicated to your work, and to me. But you deserve your own life, your own friends, your own identity."

Talon kissed the finger against her lips. "I've always had those things. In you."

"There's more to life than me, Talon."

"Maybe. But you're my favorite part." Her gaze slid toward the servants' stables, and she wiggled her eyebrows. "Speaking of favorite parts..."

Shasta clapped a hand to her mouth with a scandalized giggle. "You're terrible." But her heart had already begun to pound with anticipation at the wicked gleam in Talon's eye. She stood and took leave of the soldiers nearby with perhaps a bit too much haste, then led her guardian by the hand to their quarters.

Shasta collapsed onto the blankets, blood thundering in her ears and her breath coming in pants. "Goddess, Talon, I swear you make me feel like I could sprout wings and fly right up into the sky. It's incredible."

Her guardian chuckled and planted little kisses across her face. "You're incredible. If I could, I'd spend every minute of the rest of my life making love to you."

Shasta snickered. "Don't you think you'd get tired after a while?"

"Never." Talon paused to search Shasta's face worriedly. "You're not...you're not getting weary of me already, are you?"

Shasta was startled. "What? No! No, Talon, of course not. What would make you say that?"

Her guardian flushed. "After all that talk about how you want me to have my own life..." She suddenly buried her face in the curve of the Princess's neck, muffling her next words. "I couldn't bear it if you sent me away now."

"Talon." Shasta lifted the dark head so she could look into her eyes. "I have no intention of sending you away, not ever again. I just..." She took a deep breath. "Your whole world seems to center on me. You're capable of such great things on your own, and I'm certainly not the only one to have use for you. I'm so afraid one day you're going to wake up and feel that I've kept you from having your own life and your own purpose."

Talon traced a finger down Shasta's cheek. "Don't you understand, Shasta, you're everything to me, and I like it that way. My sisters don't need me anymore. You're the only one I have left, and I love you so desperately sometimes I think my heart's going to burst with it." She leaned forward to rest her chin on her knees. "I need to belong to you. I need you to need me."

Shasta reached out to stroke the satiny skin of her guardian's back. "I'll always need you, Talon," she said softly. "Your strength, your faith in me, sometimes those are only things that keep me from losing my mind. The way the men out there look at me, as though they believe I'm somehow going to single-handedly return the dawn to their dark lives..." She sighed. "I want so much to give these people a happily-ever-after, the fairy-tale ending that they deserve. Where every person is able to feed and clothe their family in peace. Where every Ithyrian child can receive an education and have the freedom to choose their own path in life. It's so much, to have the hopes and dreams and expectations of an entire people resting on my head. I don't want to face this alone."

Talon turned her head and reached up to entwine her fingers with Shasta's. "You won't have to. I'm proud to be a part of this, Shasta, this new world you're going to create. I want to help see it through however I can."

Shasta planted a kiss against her guardian's neck and disentangled their fingers. "Well, I suppose it's a start."

"A start?"

Playfully she pushed Talon down into the blankets so she could pillow her head against her guardian's strong shoulder. "To finding your own purpose, one that's bigger than just me." She yawned, then started at the sound of loud pounding on the stable doors.

"Your Highness?" a male voice called. "Your Highness, it's urgent."

"I think that's Harneth," Talon said, hastily getting out of bed and locating her clothes.

"Just a moment," Shasta called and rose from the hay with a blanket drawn around her shoulders. She opened the stable door just a crack. "General, what is it?"

"We've just taken a prisoner that I think you're going to want to see for yourself, Highness. She's asking for you."

"She?" Shasta repeated, puzzled. "Very well. Bring her to the palace temple. I will be there presently."

Shasta's mouth dropped open in disbelief when Harneth led the prisoner onto the temple floor, her hands bound in front of her. A heavy purple bruise darkened one side of her face.

"Bria!"

She would have run to her former lady-in-waiting, but Talon caught her arm and said grimly, "No, Princess. She cannot be trusted."

Shasta took another look at Bria's swollen cheek and demanded of the guards, "Who did this? Which one of you laid a hand on her?"

"It wasn't your men, Highness," Bria said quietly. "This happened before I entered your camp."

Talon leveled her sword at her sister. "What are you doing here?"

"Talon!" Bria's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, I'm so relieved..." She took a step forward but stopped as Talon's sword flicked ominously toward her throat.

"Your Highness," General Harneth addressed Shasta. "Just a few minutes ago the drawbridge was lowered and the prisoner appeared, carrying this." He held up a white handkerchief that had been fastened to the end of a stick. "She claims Kumire sent her out with a message for you."

The point of Talon's sword did not waver. "So deliver your message," she spat.

Bria's face was sad. "My husband desires to invite the Princess Shasta to a negotiation regarding the terms of our surrender."

Talon growled. "You tell your husband if he wants to surrender, he's welcome to come out and negotiate terms himself."

"That's not possible. He fears for his life at the hands of your soldiers and requests that the Princess enter the castle herself, alone, as a sign of good faith."

General Harneth guffawed loudly, and the soldiers behind him began to chuckle as well until the temple walls rang with laughter. "Let me be sure I understand you correctly, little lady," he said, wiping his eyes with a thumb. "We have Kumire surrounded and besieged. He expects Princess Shasta to enter his castle, alone and unguarded? Why would she do such a thing?"

Bria flushed and curtsied to Shasta. "He does not expect you to accept his offer."