The last thing Wildas wanted to do six days later was attend the ball his father had planned as a way for all the available young men and women to meet and charm him. The only change he'd gotten Grand King Deandre to make was to allow Coulta to attend.

"He's afraid you'll scare people away from me," he grumbled to Coulta on their way to the Great Hall. "So he would rather you protect me from a distance."

Coulta nodded. "I understand."

"But please find me from time to time," Wildas added. "I hate these parties."

He felt ridiculous dressed as a fancy piece of the court, wearing the uncomfortable flowing blue silk shirt and the decorative tan breeches with blue stitching down the outsides of the legs. He'd shaved and left his wavy chestnut hair down, making it difficult to see the sapphire earrings he was wearing, per Queen Yvona's request. His shoes were practically mirrors and he wore rings on each hand.

He envied Coulta. His protector had been given nicer clothes for the night; a black silk shirt and black breeches with silver cording along the outer seams. He'd even gotten new boots that were perfectly polished. He had his hair pulled back in a tight tail and didn't have to wear any jewelry. He was even permitted to carry his sword, though he had been given a new belt that was of a heavily polished leather matching his boots.

"You should go in first," Wildas said when they got to the side entrance of the Hall.

Coulta nodded and went inside. Wildas sighed heavily and followed a few moments later. All his parents were already there, and Deandre dragged him over to meet several potential spouses who Wildas quickly determined had no potential for him.

It was a long time before he could escape the clutches of the obnoxiously flirtatious men and women and find a spot on the balcony to relax. He looked down at the guests, who were, not surprisingly, starting to become more interested in each other than they were in him. There were already several couples dancing to the music of the minstrels his father had arranged for the night.

He was scanning the crowd for Coulta when someone suddenly came to stand beside him. Expecting Coulta, he turned and smiled, only to realize it wasn't him, but another man he recognized. His smile faltered. Ashnil was the youngest son of the Grand King's distant cousin living outside the Ryal farmlands, and he'd been after Wildas's hand for years. He was dressed impeccably as always, this time in black pants and a shimmering green shirt that seemed to accentuate his movements. As lean as the man was, Wildas thought it made him look like a snake. He wore gold earrings and a few gems glittered on his fingers. His black hair was pulled partially back and his green eyes held nothing but desire for power.

"It's a good party," Ashnil commented in his silky-smooth voice, handing Wildas a cup of wine.

When Coulta didn't magically appear from the shadows and knock it away from him, Wildas took the cup with a nod. "Thank you."

"You still haven't made any choices yet?" Ashnil asked, standing at the railing next to Wildas with his own wine.

"No," Wildas replied and took a sip from his cup before adding, "but I have a few in mind."

"Oh? Who are you considering?"

Wildas took another sip and tried to stall. "I'd rather not share names just yet."

Ashnil made use of the shadows on the balcony to run his hand down Wildas's back, making Wildas shiver in discomfort. The other man seemed to take it as a sign of pleasure and ran his hand across Wildas's lower back.

"Surely my name is under consideration? Or is that one night forgotten?"

It had been. Or repressed, more like. Until he saw the man again and was reminded how he'd been utterly taken advantage of, which was why he was wary every time Ashnil handed him a cup of wine and started taking liberties.

"I'll let you know," he said pointedly.

When Wildas didn't respond anymore to the hand caressing his back, or say anything else, Ashnil finally took the hint and gave him a nod. "Find me when you've finished your wine."

Wildas nodded, but stayed silent until the balcony was empty again. With a sigh he sat down on the bench against the wall, glaring at the half-finished wine that was already affecting him. He should have tried to build up his tolerance again, knowing how many people would be offering the stuff to him.

But he hadn't, and his thoughts were unfortunately straying to those touches from Ashnil, but his mind put Coulta in the other man's place, which only vaguely surprised him.

"Shall I go bring him back for you?"

Coulta's voice startled him so badly that he almost spilled the wine. The man appeared seemingly from nowhere to stand near the bench, giving Wildas a strange look.

"No," Wildas answered, hoping he didn't sound as guilty as he felt. He held the wine cup up to Coulta. "Just give this to my brother and tell him that if anyone tries to bring me more spiked wine, they should be thrown in the dungeon."

Coulta gave him a curious look, but took the cup and walked away. Wildas sighed heavily and leaned his head back against the cool wall. It was going to be a long night.

Coulta hadn't liked the way the snake-like young man was touching Wildas, and he wasn't sure why. Something warned him against the stranger, but surely Wildas was capable of putting off would-be lovers. Though the look on the prince's face after the man was gone suggested that maybe he had wanted him around after all.

Doing as he was told, Coulta took the wine cup to Rohan, who was standing guard near the elevated table where his parents sat eating. "Wildas wanted me to give this to you," he explained. "He says anyone who brings him spiked wine should be thrown in the dungeon. I don't think he was serious, I just have to do as he asks."

Rohan laughed as he took the cup and set it down on a nearby table. "Sounds like Wildas. I saw Duke Bracin's son up there with him. That brat has been trying to court him for years."

Coulta assumed, based on what he'd seen, that the Prince-General wasn't calling his brother the brat. "What is spiked wine?" he asked.

Rohan snorted. "Nothing Wildas wants with all these potential spouses around," he explained, waving his hand at the crowded Hall. "It contains an aphrodisiac. Makes for long nights. It's common at celebrations here because of the marriage tradition. A lot of guests also follow it."

"So they try to get Wildas to marry them by seducing him?" Coulta questioned.

"Some of them," Rohan answered. "I honestly wonder if he'll ever give in and choose."

Coulta looked around the Hall at the guests, many of whom were dancing with each other to the musicians. "I don't think I like the one who gave him that wine," he admitted.

"Ashnil? He's quite harmless. Now, anyway. I don't think my brother needs you protecting his honor. He's capable of choosing lovers if he wants."

Coulta wasn't sure what he heard in the other man's voice, but he shook his head. "It's not that."

"Just be careful," Rohan said, leaning closer. "You're probably the closest thing to a friend Wildas has. He doesn't need our father trying to get rid of you because you're chasing away all his potential spouses."

"I'm not going to chase anyone away," Coulta assured him. "It's the people who want to harm him that I don't like."

"Then you probably don't like Ashnil because of what he did to Wildas years ago," the Prince-General replied, leaning even closer. "I don't like him for it, either. Wildas had just reached marriageable age – fifteen. Ashnil got him drunk off that wine at a party like this. At least the bastard had the decency to find me and tell me where he left my brother, and he probably only told me because he knew I had no power to do anything to him yet. Wildas won't ever call it rape and refused to tell anyone with the authority to ban Ashnil from any party like this, especially the Grand King. He's too ashamed of himself and blames himself for letting it happen. That's why I say he's capable of choosing his own lovers, because he learned from that."

Coulta tried not to act overly affected by the story, but the anger that shot through him was hard to hold back. "You don't worry about him trying to seduce your brother, even after that?"

Rohan shrugged. "As far as I know, he's yet to get any sort of reaction out of Wildas since then, but he won't give up. He's a pest, and it's unfortunate that Wildas doesn't choose spouses just to get him out of his life. Anyway, maybe you can somehow sense that he had harmful intentions before, so you dislike him."

Coulta shrugged. "It's possible."

In reality, he had no idea if that was possible. Angry as he was at the man's past transgressions, he still felt that Ashnil was dangerous, and it was about more than the harm he'd caused before. He kept an eye on the man for the next hour, trying to decide what it was about him that was keeping Coulta's attention. At one point, toward the end of the night, he lost track of Ashnil, only to find him in the shadows on the balcony.

Ashnil was kneeling in the shadow of a pillar, wearing a dark gray cloak he hadn't been wearing before. Coulta hid himself from view with magic just a single pace from where the man was kneeling, and saw him pull a piece of polished wood from beneath his cloak.

The feeling of danger grew as he watched Ashnil press a button at the end of the piece of wood. Two more pieces sprang out, and Coulta realized that he was looking at a very small crossbow.

Setting the object down, Ashnil pulled a single dart from his cloak and a small glass vial of dark liquid. He uncapped the vial and dipped the tip of the dart inside, then carefully set it down to cap the vial again. Coulta moved carefully around the man and watched him load the dart into the miniature crossbow. Still hidden in the shadows, Ashnil raised the weapon onto the railing of the balcony and took aim.

Directly at the Grand King.

Coulta didn't know how the mechanism on the weapon worked, so he simply used his magic to hold the dart in place when Ashnil fired. He wished he could see the look on the man's face when the dart stayed where it was, covered in black mist. Ashnil pulled the weapon to himself and looked it over, swearing.

Coulta reached forward and grabbed the weapon, avoiding the poisoned tip of the dart. "Thank you," he said as he made himself visible.

Ashnil started to stand and Coulta knocked him unconscious with some help from his magic. Looking below, he spotted Rohan almost directly under where he stood. Holding the weapon out of sight, he nudged the Prince-General with a bit of magic.

Rohan glanced up in confusion. "Was that –"

"Come up here," he hissed, motioning with his hand.

No one seemed to care about Rohan practically shoving people as he made his way quickly to the stairs, except for Second King Shelton, who watched Rohan until he was up the stairs.

When Rohan saw Ashnil laying behind Coulta even the shadows couldn't hide his annoyed expression. "After that whole conversation you still –"

Rohan's rant died when Coulta showed him the weapon. "He had this aimed at the Grand King," he explained.

"What is that?" Rohan questioned, reaching for it.

"The tip is poisoned," Coulta warned, handing it over.

Rohan turned the weapon around in his hands for a moment, careful of the tip of the dart, which Coulta made sure remained in place. "I've never seen anything like this," he muttered, then handed it back to Coulta. "Hold on to it and him. I'll send Guardsmen to take him away. He's not dead, is he?"

Coulta shook his head. "I thought you'd like to talk to him."

The Prince-General nodded. "Good. Make sure he keeps resting a while."

Coulta watched the prince move off along the balcony toward the nearest staircase. He stopped to talk quietly to the first two Guardsmen he found, two of the several who were standing guard along the walls of the Great Hall. The two other men saluted him, then made their way up the stairs. Rohan then moved to where his parents were seated, leaning down between both kings. Coulta saw both of them look up directly where he stood. He couldn't read the look on the bearded Grand King's face, but Shelton gave him a hint of a thankful smile.

Coulta bowed his head, then turned to the two Guardsmen. That was when Wildas appeared. Coulta had just begun to wonder where the Crown Prince was, though he knew through the curse that his master wasn't in any danger.

"What happened?" Wildas demanded.

"Your admirer apparently planned to make you a king tonight. Don't touch the point." Coulta handed the weapon to him and helped one of the Guardsmen roll Ashnil over to bind his hands.

Wildas turned the thing over in his hands several times, just like his brother had. "What is this?"

"Some sort of weapon," Coulta answered as he hauled the unconscious man to his feet and handed him off to the Guardsmen. "That's all I know."

The Guardsmen took Ashnil through a doorway a short distance down the balcony, taking the would-be assassin from the party without raising any alarm among the guests. Below, however, he heard the party go quiet. Even the minstrels stopped playing.

"I regret that it is time we retired for the night," Grand King Deandre announced. "Please, stay as long as you wish. Surely Prince Wildas will remain much longer into the night than we shall."

Coulta watched him step away from the table they'd been sitting at, followed closely by Shelton, who was talking quietly to Rohan. Yvona was close behind them and carrying herself like she wanted to have a sword in her hand. Coulta thought he understood how she felt; he'd feel helpless in such a situation, without a blade while his family was threatened. Rohan left them at the door and returned to where Coulta and Wildas were both still waiting on the balcony.

"I really would rather not be here 'longer into the night'," Wildas grumbled to Coulta.

"Neither would I," Coulta agreed.

Wildas looked up at his brother when he joined them. "What are we supposed to do?"

"We need to send word to Duke Bracin before we can question Ashnil," Rohan said with a resigned sigh. "Apparently that's the 'political' thing to do. I'll be taking that to the weapons master," he added, pointing to the strange little crossbow. "We'll see what he can make of it. None of our parents have heard of such a thing, either."

Wildas handed it carefully to his brother. "And am I really expected to stay here?"

Rohan nodded. "Unfortunately. You can keep Coulta nearby if you want to. I think he's finally proven to Father that he's worth having around." He gave Coulta a crooked smile and a nod.

Coulta returned the nod.

"I have to take this somewhere safe," Rohan added, motioning to the weapon. "I'll be back to send these guests away later."

"Thank you," Wildas said.

Rohan gave them both a nod and left through the same doorway that the other Guardsmen had used.

"How did you know Ashnil was up here?" Wildas asked.

"He gave me a bad feeling," Coulta tried to explain. "He felt dangerous, but not directly to you. I kept watching him all night. Rohan tried to tell me he was harmless."

Wildas sighed and sat down on a bench, motioning for Coulta to sit with him. "I always just thought he was an annoying bastard."

Coulta cleared his throat and admitted, "Rohan told me. What he did. He seemed to think that was why I felt I didn't like him."

"I was a fool back then," Wildas replied. "Too bad I didn't have you around when I was fifteen."

Coulta stared off into the light coming from the main part of the Hall. "Around then was when Varin started using me as a killer. I was thirteen."

"Is it still hard to think of the first one?" Wildas asked, though his voice was gentle.

"Of course it is," Coulta replied. "I remember all of them. I wish I didn't, but I do. Hundreds of different people, and every one is distinct." He fought the lump in his throat. "The first was especially personal for Varin. It was one of his mistresses, who had just given birth to a daughter only days before. I had to kill her in her sleep. She was young, probably not much older than I was. She woke up while I was trying to fight the command. But I couldn't, and I had to see her terror when I killed her. If that wasn't enough, I had to kill the baby."

The horror at that first assignment came flooding suddenly back to him. Killing them. Dropping the knife. Stumbling from the room. Varin waiting in the hallway.

Laughter.

Falling to his knees in the hall. Sobbing. Vomiting what little he'd eaten that day.

Even more laughter.

That was when he'd known for certain that Varin was the cruelest man alive.

Teeya had hovered over him for days like an attentive mother, until Varin's commands forced him from bed and into the guise of a killer once again.

And the secret hope he had always carried, that, even if this person he was bound to never appeared, that one day he would be able to somehow be the agent of Varin's own demise. And now he would be.

"Coulta?"

He looked up at Wildas, who was watching him with concern. "It's the past I must live with," he whispered.

Wildas reached out to him cautiously, hesitated, then brushed the tears from Coulta's cheeks. "All I do is cause you pain. I'm sorry."

Coulta shook his head, ashamed of his tears. "No. The curse causes me pain."

"How is your hand?" the prince asked, moving back again.

"Completely healed," Coulta replied. He'd noticed that the last of the bruising had faded that morning and the skin was whole again.

"How?" Wildas demanded. "It's only been a few days!"

Coulta shrugged. "I've always healed rather fast. Maybe the curse needs me in good condition to use me."

Wildas didn't seem to know how to respond to that, because he didn't say anything for quite a while, until he asked, "Would you want to go riding outside the city tomorrow? I'll need to take half a guard and Rohan with me, even if you come. It's the minimum amount of protection I'm supposed to have when I leave, even if I'm only riding just outside the city."

Coulta nodded. "It sounds much better than staying here all day. But, what is 'half a guard'?"

"Six Guardsmen," Wildas answered. "A full guard is twelve Guardsmen. However, the full Guard is five hundred Guardsmen, not including the officers."

"I'm happy I don't have to oversee the defenses of this place," Coulta stated. "Everything is so much more complicated than I could have imagined."

Wildas smiled. "I suppose it is, if you haven't grown up with it."

Rohan returned then, covering a yawn. "I thought you'd still be here."

"No one seemed to be looking for me," Wildas replied, "and I'm not in a party mood."

"Neither am I," Rohan agreed. "I say it's late enough to call an end to the gathering. I'll see you in the morning. And have Coulta take you to your room. I doubt there's anyone hiding in the shadows by this point, but I suppose you never know. I didn't expect what did happen tonight." He started to move away, then turned back to them and added, looking at Coulta, "I posted Guardsmen in the hallway outside his room. You should wait for him to shut the door before you walk away. It's the proper way to go about things like that. They finally stopped gossiping about your arrival for the most part."

Coulta nodded in understanding.

"Appearances," Wildas grumbled to him quietly. "Everything is always about appearances."

"You don't need to make any announcement like your father did?" Coulta asked as the Prince-General walked away.

"No," Wildas replied, standing. "Rohan can speak for me."

Coulta got to his feet and followed Wildas through a side door and into a dark corridor. Though he suspected Rohan was correct in assuming no more assassins were lurking around the place, he still walked with a hand on his sword hilt.

It was a while before they were in familiar passageways. Coulta made a mental note of their location when they passed his own door, and the route they took to where Wildas stayed.

"This is where my siblings and some of my other relatives have their rooms," Wildas explained. "I don't think I ever mentioned that. If Shelton ever sends for you, my parents live directly above us. The whole wing upstairs is taken up by two suites of rooms; my parents' and the ones I will live in with my spouses when I get married. Shelton's office door has the symbol of the court sorcerer on it, a violet dragon."

Coulta nodded, relieved to finally know how to find his mentor. Shelton had been finding him when their days came to work with his powers, but it was good to know how to find the sorcerer if he needed to.

They stopped walking and Coulta realized they were at the door to Wildas's room. There were a couple Guardsmen standing guard at various points along the hallway, but otherwise the hall was as unremarkable as usual.

Wildas turned to him when they stopped at the door. "Thank you."

Coulta was surprised at the appreciation. "What for?"

"Stopping Ashnil, along with everything else."

"I was just keeping my vow," Coulta replied.

A sad look crossed the prince's face. "Thank you, nonetheless. I will see you tomorrow."

Coulta gave him a bow, mostly for the benefit of the Guardsmen. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Wildas said again, almost in a whisper, and slipped inside the room.

Coulta waited until the door was latched before walking away, feeling as lonely as he always did when he was away from the prince. Now was when the ghosts from his past would haunt him, when he was alone and night was all around him.

At least it was much later than usual, so dawn would come much more swiftly.