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No one says a word for a long moment. Tobi wonders if he should not have mentioned their father.

It is Doroth Zain who says, “We should drink to him.”

Karo, who has drifted from her spot behind Doroth Zain during the conversation and taken a seat at the table, says, “It was part of the plan.”

Perl looks at her suspiciously.

Tobi glances around, unsure what Karo means. “What plan?”

“She killed him,” says Kerik, pointing at Karo with his spoon.

Tobi frowns. “She…?” He looks at Doroth Zain. “You told me he was killed on the streets of Ceruleum, by bandits.”

Doroth Zain looks as if he is about to reply, but Damon speaks over him. “You have still not explained that to me,” he says, sounding as if he is the only person who deserves an explanation for this.

Karo says, “It was always meant to be done when Jemel came of age. Rafus’s death protects you all. Batreous wrote that The Five Fae Princes will be bastards born of Rafus’s body and now there can be no more bastards.” She says it simply. A matter of fact.

Talk of Rafus, makes Tobi think of his mother. She has not joined them for breakfast, but he has spent as much time with her as possible since Harok took the Shard and freed her mind. She had held him for hours that first night she was herself again. He asked her about his father.

Mareena’s sweet voice had been like music, familiar, sad music, as she said, “He loved you, Tobi, I know he did, but not like a father. He wanted to possess you. As soon as he knew you existed he wanted us to come to the Rose Palace. I only wanted coin from him, but he wanted you. His boy. He loved you all. In his way. He was not a good father but you cannot doubt he had love for his children.”

In the dining room it is Lyr who says, “Even if it was for this protection, you killed him. You killed their father.”

“I believed it was necessary for the battle to come,” Karo says, as if this is simple.

“If what Perl claims is true, we were already protected,” says Kerik.

“Perhaps, a little. Fate would have been on your side.”

Perl says, “Jareleezi could not kill you. Perhaps killing Rafus does protect you. With him gone, the prophecy cannot be fulfilled any other way.” Perl shrugs. “It is hard to say.”

“Nevertheless,” says Doroth Zain, “Princess Karo should return to the ivory palace as soon as possible. I think it would be better.”

“I agree,” says Damon. “You should go now.”

“Very well,” says Karo, flatly. She rises and glides out of the room.

Damon waits until she is gone, before saying to Perl. “Can we be sure she is on our side? Can she be trusted?”

It is not Perl who answers, but Doroth Zain, “Women with such powers must always be viewed with caution.”

Perl gives Doroth Zain a weary look, and says, “Karo has done much for us. She has been indispensable. But I have seen no writings that say Rafus needed to die.”

“Perhaps she wanted to be free of her husband,” says Lyr.

Kerik laughs. “Of all of us, I probably knew the princess best. She was a strange woman. Always alone. She had no Ladies in Waiting. And Ullinor hated her. I always thought it was Ullinor who started the rumours about Karo being a witch. Little did I know she truly was practising magic.”

The dining room goes quiet after that. For several long moments they eat in silence.

And then Elric softly wails, “And where is Marko?” Before falling from his chair into a heap on the floor.

3

JEMEL

Veiled and robed, washed and oiled, Jemel makes his way to the Hall of Twelve. His sandalled feet are silent on the marble floors of the Rose Palace.

This grand building, some say is the richest in the world, with its endless halls of gilded marble and walls hung with silken tapestries.