"Oh right," Rau said. "Them."

And if he did, in some great lapse of sanity, give me to you, Rau, rest assured I'd have strangled you on our wedding night.

"Pity," Riordan said, "That Hael's King had only sons. One of my brothers could have taken Hael as dowry."

Rau lapsed into sullen silence.

Stupid, Riordan rebuked herself. Should have kept him talking. Know your enemy, Nhaille's words nagged at her memory.

"Your younger brothers," she said in her friendliest tone of voice, "tell me of them."

"Nothing much to speak of."

Riordan read the warning in his voice and ignored it. "Surely there must be. Are they captains in your army?"

"No," Rau said. His crisp tone encouraged no further inquiry. "My father keeps them close at hand. He's grooming the youngest to take his place."

The revelation slid with bitterness from his lips. Hael was lost to Rau. In order to rule, he had to claim kingdoms of his own.

Riordan opened her mouth to say something further, but Rau continued.

"And you're wrong. My parents did have a daughter, but she died in childhood."

"I'm sorry." The traitorous words slipped past her lips, taking her entirely by surprise. Pity was something she never expected to feel for Doan-Rau.

He moved against her, letting go the sigh he held inside. "My father adored her." Rau paused, and she felt him suck in a long breath.

"And she was dear to me," he said at last.

Know your enemy. Riordan shook her head slowly. There was no end, she realized, to the complexities of the mind of a madman.

It required a strange type of delusion to feel sadness for the loss of one's family and then to coldbloodedly murder an entire kingdom. A keen blade of anger clove through her, so sudden, so pure, she gasped in surprise.

"I don't suppose it occurred to you, that maybe my family, my kingdom were dear to me?"

There was a long pause."Unfortunate, but their sacrifice was necessary."

"Necessary? For what? For your glory?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"I don't suppose I would."

"That was exactly the problem with you Kanarekii. You had no vision."

The fire racing through her veins ran cold. Riordan twisted again to look at him. She had to see the cool judgment in his face to believe a human being was capable of such a thing.

"Suffice to say our vision was different than yours." She shot him a look fit to kill.

But Rau was oblivious to the splash of venom launched his way. As if delivering a well-rehearsed lecture, he continued undaunted.

"If you knew all those years where the Sword lay, why didn't you break it out of the vault and take down Hael before it occurred to us to conquer you?"

"Destruction from the last time the Sword was unleashed marks the plains to this day. The Sword is not to be used lightly."

"My point exactly."

She stared at him in mute disbelief.

"Kanarek's downfall was prophesied. Your father knew the Sword's whereabouts. He had sons and brothers, all capable of leading an army. But did he break the Sword out of its vault and raze Hael? No? He cloistered his daughter in the forest and sat idly on his throne waiting for the prophesied events to come to pass."

With her hands bound, there was no way she could punch him in his insolent face. Riordan butted her shoulder into his chest.

Rau anticipated her move. Catching her, he absorbed the impact with his arms. Laughter rumbled through his chest as he held her away from him.

"You certainly have spirit, Your Majesty, but as a tactician you leave a great deal to be desired."

Riordan debated biting off his lips.

"Merely another point in my argument," Rau continued merrily. "In its last dying moment, Kanarek finally breaks out the Warrior Princess and its aging Captain."

"We had no way of knowing whether the prophecy would come to pass. And Nhaille is not old," she spat at him. "You'd best not mock him, Rau. You may yet meet your end at his hand."

But Rau merely laughed harder. "Oh ho! You have a fondness for the old man, don't you? Well, I guess that's to be expected after being locked up in the forest together all those years." He waved a finger at her. "Now what would your father say? Assuming he could still talk."

Riordan felt her mouth dropping open before she could prevent it. "Nhaille and I are not lovers!"

"Indeed?" Rau asked with mock interest.

The flame inside roared to life. Having no other method of striking out, she rammed herself against him. Chuckling, Rau wrapped his arms securely around her, preventing further movement."Now, now, Your Majesty. If you'd think about it for just a moment, you'd know the truth when you heard it."

"You wouldn't know truth if it bit you," she snarled. And how I'd like to bite you. I'd rip out your throat with my own teeth.

Already I can taste your blood!

"As I was saying. Kanarek finally breaks loose its virginal Princess, who we find now, has fallen in love with her loyal servant the legendary, but aging Captain Nhaille. Belatedly, they set out to cross the desert and release the Sword." He recited the story as if telling it to a young child. "Whereupon they meet their enemy, the victorious Prince Rau."

Riordan craned her neck and spat in his face.

Still laughing at his own humor, Rau wiped the spittle from the side of his face and continued.

"Whereupon they meet their enemy. Seeing there are two of them and only one of the lonely Prince, do they kill him in cold blood?"

The question hung between them.

"No. Of course not. Being Kanarekii, they bungle the entire deed. And the Prince takes the Captain, who isn't your lover, hostage."

He turned her chin toward him.

"And the Princess, pardon me, The Queen, what does she do?"

Rau waited for her answer. When none came he said, "Does she sacrifice the man she doesn't love, so she can see the Haelian beast put to justice?"

Sapphire eyes stared down into hers.

"Did she, Riordan-Khun-Caryn?"

"Justice has yet to be served," Riordan growled.

"Is that so?"

Answering his own question, he said, "We shall see. But we have not ended our story. It would seem the prophesied avenger of Kanarek does not have much stomach for war."

Oh, just you wait, Prince.

"And what did our brave Queen do? She sacrificed her own life to save that of her lover."

"He's not my lover. And what would you know of loyalty?"

"Had you let him die, you could have turned the course of this entire war."

And I will, my Prince. I promise you that.

"But no, the good Queen thought with her heart instead of her brain. Just like her father, she threw away her chances."

"And what you did was honorable?" The words burst from her lips, in spite of her vow to prove him wrong and think with her head. "Leveling an entire kingdom and enslaving its dead into your army was preferable?""Preferable to losing."

"There wouldn't be a war if it wasn't for you, Rau."

"Wouldn't there?" he asked mildly. "It seems to me it was only a matter of time."

"A matter of time for what? Before an abomination like you was born?"

"Only a matter of time before someone found the map to the Sword and went to dig it up," he said calmly. "If it wasn't me or my kin, it would have been you or yours. The Shraal for all their great talk, left relics to their greatness all over. Did they think no one would ever decipher what was written?"

"You don't bear the markings of a Shraal."

But he did, she thought suddenly. Shraal madness shone within Rau like a flame.

"What does it matter?" Rau asked easily.

He knows. The knowledge seeped slowly into her brain. He knowss the Sword can only be used by one of Shraal blood.

Did Rau's madness mean Shraal blood coursed in his veins? Or was his insanity of his own making?

"You're wrong," Riordan said, maneuvering the conversation away from the Sword. "I don't think your father would have ever gone after the Sword or the Amber for himself."

"The King is a man of limited vision."

"And you are not."

"Obviously."

"The King will be proud of your accomplishments then?"

Rau stiffened against her, and she knew the comment had hit its mark.

"He will," Rau said, without conviction.

"That's good." Riordan added a fair measure of sarcasm. "I'd hate to think the murder of my people was without cause."

Her sarcasm, however, was not lost on Rau.

"As I said, the Kanarekii have no vision."

"So you said."

"I merely speak the truth."

"It is equally true Hael is without compassion."

"Compassion is a useless emotion."

"A personal failing you were kind enough to point out to me. I shall try to rid myself of this weakness." She offered him a frigid glare. "Especially where you're concerned."

Her comment restored Rau's good humor. "Still plotting my untimely demise?""I've given little thought to anything else."

"I'm flattered I warrant so much of your attention, Your Majesty."

"Indeed, you fascinate me."

Rau raised his eyebrows, waiting for the insult he was sure was coming.

"Just as thunderstorms fascinate me."

Mistaking her words for a compliment, he beamed back at her.

"All noise and wind with little substance."

His smile faded to a dark frown. In that instant he did resemble the sky before a storm. Riordan waited for the first explosion.

But instead Rau said, "I assure you, Your Majesty. There is plenty of substance to me."

"Ah yes, the songs they'll sing, the monuments they'll build in your name. And what then Rau? Will that keep you warm on the cold nights when the ghosts of my family come to haunt you?"

His fury she expected, anything but the thoughtful way he cocked his head and studied her. His hand cupped her chin and turned her face toward him. "The monuments could be built in your name as well, Riordan."

"Your Majesty," she corrected him, covering her shock. "We are not friends, Rau."