"Because I'm very fond of my nephew and he's convinced you're innocent. I'd hate to give him cause to feel about me the way you do."

"That can't be the only reason."

"It's not," Marla agreed. "But it's the only one that matters at the moment."

Luciena stared at the princess in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I'm giving you one last chance, Luciena, to prove your tale is the truth. Convince me, and I will let you live. Fail to convince me, and you won't be going back to your cell, I can promise you that."

"Xanda said you were waiting until Wrayan Lightfinger returned. He can prove I'm innocent."

"Unfortunately for you, Wrayan isn't here and I don't have time to wait for him any longer. So convince me, or tell me what you'd like engraved on your headstone. I'm fine with it, either way."

Luciena stared at Marla, wishing she could tell if the princess was bluffing. "I don't know how to prove my innocence, your highness."

"What of this letter from your uncle you claim to have? The one who was trying to extort you?

Can you produce that?"

"I left it in Greenharbour."

"Can anyone confirm your story?"

"My slave, Aleesha-"

"Your slave hardly counts as a reliable witness. Isn't there somebody else?"

"The High Arrion-"

"Is the last person you should use as a character witness in my house. Did you discuss the matter with Farlian Kell?"

"No."

"With any body?"

"No."

"You're not doing much to help yourself, Luciena."

"If I'd known I was going to be accused of treason and attempted murder, your highness, I would have been a bit more careful to establish my alibi before I left Greenharbour."

The princess frowned at her tone. "Your attitude isn't helping you, either."

"I'm sorry, your highness, if I'm not showing you the correct amount of respect while you pass a death sentence on me!"

The thought occurred to Luciena, even as she uttered the words, that she was probably passing a death sentence on herself by being so insolent. But she couldn't help it. This was so unfair. All her dreams had been so close to coming true. Everything had been on the cusp of being so perfect. And then, for reasons she couldn't understand, or even remember, it had been snatched from her grasp and the only one she had to rail at was Princess Marla.

The princess seemed disappointed by her outburst. "Very well, Luciena, if that's how you feel, then you leave me no alternative. I know you won't believe me, but I'm genuinely sorry it's going to end like this. You had a great deal of potential." Marla turned towards the door. "Captain!"

Luciena stared at the princess, horrified to realise she meant to put an end to this immediately.

Almodavar stepped into the solar, his expression grim. "Your highness?"

"Miss Mariner is not in the mood to cooperate. You may proceed with her execution as soon as you're ready."

"You're bluffing," Luciena accused, certain she must be dreaming. "You won't hang me here in Krakandar. Not where your children can witness it."

Marla smiled grimly. "If you think I'd shy away from teaching my children a salient lesson about the best way to treat traitors, Luciena, then you don't know me at all."

Almodavar took a step towards her and the true depth of Luciena's dire predicament began to sink in. They're going to kill me, she realised, suddenly feeling ill as she backed away from him. They're really going to kill me. She shook her head, trying to deny the awful truth.

Well, I'm not going without a fight, she decided. Kicking and screaming. All the way . . .

Almodavar's hand was resting on the hilt of his sword as he neared her. "Miss Mariner-"

Suddenly, the door flew open and Xanda burst into the room. "Wait!"

Luciena wanted to cry. Her first thought was that he'd come to save her, but he didn't even look at her. By all the Primal Gods, not even Xanda wants to save me. Luciena looked down at her hands. She was shaking uncontrollably and the room was starting to spin.

Marla turned to her nephew, clearly not pleased by the interruption. "I asked not to be disturbed, Xanda."

"But-"

"Not now, Xanda."

"But, Aunt Marla, before you-"

"Xanda!"

"Wrayan Lightfinger's here!" Xanda announced, refusing to be silenced. "And I know he's supposed to be a great magician, but I doubt he's all that good at communing with the dead, so perhaps we should get him to speak to Luciena before you hang her?"

If Princess Marla said anything in reply to Xanda's announcement, Luciena never heard it. The room was doing cartwheels in front of her eyes.

Xanda's suggestion that Princess Marla delay her hanging until she'd spoken to Wrayan Lightfinger was the last thing she remembered before she fainted.

Chapter 37.

Luciena?" a voice whispered. "Can you hear me?"

Luciena's eyes fluttered open. Xanda was leaning over her. She smiled wanly. "I had this strange dream," she told him sleepily. "I was in the solar and Princess Marla ordered Almodavar to take me away and then you burst in and said Wrayan Lightfinger was back . . ."She blinked again and looked around the room . . . everything was blue. It wasn't her cell. In fact, it looked suspiciously like her old room in the palace.

Anxiously, she struggled to sit up, but a firm hand pushed her back down. "Steady on there, old girl," an unfamiliar voice warned. "You might want to wait a bit before you do anything too strenuous."

Luciena turned her head to look at the man who had spoken and then back at Xanda, suddenly filled with apprehension. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

He shook his head.

"My head hurts."

"Sorry about that." The stranger looked down on her with a smile. To her intense relief, it was Wrayan Lightfinger. She didn't know how long she'd been here, how long she'd been unconscious.

Luciena certainly had no idea how she came to be back in her old room. These blank spots in her memory were developing into a disturbing trend. "Did you . . . I mean, were you able to tell . . . ?"

"Oh, yes!" Wrayan agreed. "But you should be fine now. Alija's heavy-handed attempt at coercion is no real match for a bit of Harshini-trained finesse. The headache should go away eventually.

In an hour or so."

"So the High Arrion definitely did something to me?" she asked. It was rather aggravating, this notion that other people could rifle through her thoughts at will while she knew nothing about it. "Does this mean you're satisfied I'm not a dangerous Patriot or a Fardohnyan spy burning with the need to bring the Wolfblades down?"

Xanda sat on the bed beside her, taking her hand in his. "It helped that Wrayan arrived back in Krakandar with your magically gifted cousin in tow," he told her with a smile. He seemed concerned, but it was hard to tell. "With proof that the letter from your uncle actually existed, I think we can safely assume you really aren't a Fardohnyan spy. And now Wrayan's been able to verify that your mind was tampered with, it shouldn't be too hard to persuade Marla you're not a dangerous criminal."

"But why would Lady Alija do something like that to me?"

"Do you recall what happened when she came to see you in Greenharbour?" Wrayan asked.

Luciena frowned. Her headache made it hard to remember. "We were talking about coming to Krakandar . . . she was asking what Princess Marla wanted of me . . . then she took my hands . . ." She shrugged helplessly. "The next thing I recall is Aleesha was standing over me, telling me I'd fainted."

"Welcome to the family," Wrayan said.

She frowned and then nodded as the memory came to her. "Yes, I kept thinking that. It was like a tune that gets stuck in your head and won't go away."

"It was the uppermost thought in your mind," Wrayan corrected. "Actually, now I come to think of it, it was the only thought in your mind. I should have realised what was going on the first time."

"You've done this to me before?"

Wrayan nodded. "The day we first met. I just brushed over your thoughts that day at lunch. The phrase kept repeating itself, over and over, but I thought it was just you-you know, as if you told yourself the same thing often enough, eventually you'd come to believe it? It must have been the trigger."

Xanda looked up at Wrayan with a frown. "Are you saying that all it needed was for somebody to say those words to her?"

Wrayan nodded. "And she'd turn into an assassin."

"Why didn't you see it before?"

The thief shrugged apologetically. "I wasn't looking for it. There was no reason to think Luciena had ever met Alija, and she's an Innate so she can't impose her will on anybody unless she can touch them. Anyway, I'd arranged with Princess Marla to come back a few days later, to take a closer look at Luciena's mind and then shield it. I would have picked up the interference then."

"So Alija filled Luciena with the desire to kill Damin and then pointed her at him like a loaded crossbow. All it needed to set her off was for someone to spare the girl a few kind words."

Wrayan nodded. "Do you remember anything else, Luciena?"

"No." She shook her head, despite the pain. It all seemed too incredu lous to be real. Then she sat bolt upright. "Hang on, did you say you had my magically gifted cousin in tow? Rory? You found him?"

"It's a long story," Wrayan said, "and right now, I have to report to the princess."

"Where is he?"

"Having the time of his life in the day nursery getting acquainted with his royal Hythrun cousins-by-marriage," the thief told her with a grin. "You can see him in a little while. Will you be all right with Xanda until I get back?"

Luciena turned her gaze on the young man. She wished she could tell what he was thinking. "I'll be fine."

Wrayan nodded. "Then I'd better speak to Marla. Don't let her get up for a while yet," he added to Xanda, before heading for the door.

With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Luciena watched the thief-or was it the sorcerer?

She wasn't really sure on that point-leave the room.

"What do you think she'll do?" she asked Xanda anxiously.

"I don't know," he admitted, squeezing her hand with an encouraging smile. "But Wrayan says you're no danger to anybody now, so that's a good thing. And Aunt Marla listens to him, so you have a chance. Although, I understand she's rather peeved with him for staying away for so long, so she might not be as amenable to his suggestions as she usually is."

Luciena sighed, wishing the pain would go away. Even the candles in the room were hurting her eyes. "I didn't think I was a danger, Xanda. Not to anybody. Even before I apparently tried to stab your cousin."

Xanda smiled faintly. "Don't worry too much about Damin. He can handle himself."

"I know," Luciena agreed with feeling. "I had the bruises and the arm he just about wrenched out of its socket to prove it."

His smile faded. "I wish I could tell you what was going to happen to you, Luciena. Aunt Marla might decide you're not worth the risk, or she might believe Wrayan and do what Ruxton is suggesting . .

. I really don't know."

She lay back against the soft pillows. The silk sheets and satin coverlet seemed strange after weeks of a straw-filled pallet and no pillow at all. But she felt dirty. Luciena wasn't sure if she'd tried to kill Damin Wolfblade on purpose, but she was fairly certain that right at this moment, she'd cheerfully kill the whole Wolfblade clan if it meant getting a bath. Then something Xanda had said struck an odd note in her mind and she looked at him curiously. "What did Ruxton suggest?"

"Something about acting as if nothing's happened so Alija will think you're still waiting for your chance at Damin."

"That sounds . . . precarious."

"I don't know the details. I just heard them discussing it in passing."

She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them and looked around in alarm as something else occurred to her. She struggled to sit up again, although it made her quite light-headed.

"Where's Aleesha? What happened to my slave?"

"She's fine. She was reassigned to the laundry while you were . . . away."

"So poor Aleesha was punished for my crime, too?"

Xanda pushed her back against the pillows, gently but firmly. "It was just a precaution, Luciena.

She might have been your accomplice."

"Assuming I was actually plotting something." Luciena sighed, wishing things had gone differently between them. Xanda had remained her one true friend through all of this. She studied his face in the candlelight, wondering what might have happened if she'd met him some other way. If his aunt wasn't the High Prince's sister. If I hadn't tried to kill his cousin.