Everything looked better in the morning. Much, much better.

“Did you work all night?” Suliel asked Kelsey incredulously.

“If by work you mean walking around touching things, then yes,” Kelsey said loftily. “I didn’t even have to bend over.”

“But there’s…” Suliel looked around. “The windows are fixed!”

“Most of them,” Kelsey acknowledged. “I have people for that.”

“Skeletons, you mean,” Anton put in. “Which you’ve explicitly told me aren’t people,” he said before she could retort.

“You’re stepping on my bit,” Kelsey complained. “After everything I’ve done for you?”

“Yeah,” Anton said, unabashed. “But this place… my home… you really cleaned it up. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, I guess,” Kelsey said awkwardly. “I’ve got… crews working on the furniture, seeing what can be repaired. It will be a few days before that is sorted out.”

“That is only to be expected,” Suliel said. “Thank you for your efforts, Kelsey.”

Kelsey didn’t blush, but she looked like she wanted to. She glanced around for a new topic of conversation and lit upon Anton.

“You’re looking fine this morning,” she said. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Some,” Anton said. Now it was his turn to look away awkwardly. “You could have… I mean, we—”

“Forget about it,” Kelsey said, waving him away. “Is the wound all right?”

“It’s fine,” Anton said, looking down at his bandage. This was the first time he’d been able to appreciate his super-human constitution. He didn’t regenerate like Al-Kadir, but just a few hours of sleep had greatly reduced the severity of the arrow wound.

“Good, because it would be a shame if you bled all over the fine clothes that Suliel bought you,” Kelsey said with a grin.

“Oh, you found those?” Suliel asked. “We had to use the wardrobes for—”

“Found them, spruced them up, and have them ready to try out,” Kelsey said. “I know you want to look your best for your audience.”

“I don’t know…” Anton said, edging away. “I’m more comfortable in my usual clothes, and we don’t want to keep him waiting…”

He took another step towards the front door.

“Hold it,” Aris said, grabbing a hold of his arm. He would have pulled away, but he’d never managed to break free when Aris held her body against him. Her soft warmth was irresistible. “Did Kelsey say something about dressing you in fancy clothes?”

* * *

All in all, there were worse things in this world than being fawned over by three beautiful women. While Kelsey’s contribution was mostly confined to smirks, leers and the production of new outfits, his two wives were very interested in dressing him in new clothes, and then undressing him. Anton put up a token resistance, but he didn’t mind the attention.

They would have gone for much longer if they hadn’t had a hard deadline to meet with the King. Since they did, Anton soon found himself riding in a carriage for the first time, wearing stiff and uncomfortable clothes. Some kind of sweet-smelling oil had been applied to his hair and a mysterious lotion had been applied to his skin.

It wasn’t magical, so Anton wasn’t sure what the point of it was, but the girls had been in favour of it.

Anton had never been to see the King before, so he didn’t realise how quickly he was passed through all the normal checks and procedures that separated His Majesty from his subjects. At least, not until Suliel spoke up.

“This is ridiculous,” she said. “At this rate, we might see him before the tenth bell.”

“The appointment was for the ninth bell,” Anton reminded her. They had shown up earlier than that, of course, but the hour had been rung while they were going through protocol.

“Normally that would mean late afternoon,” Suliel told him. “This is—”

She stopped as the Chamberlain approached. Having him handle the appointment personally was apparently a big deal.

“I’m afraid your companion will not be granted entry, Lord Nos,” the man said without preamble. “She is, in a word, too dangerous.”

“Fine by me!” Kelsey declared. “Just put me in a room with some snacks and I’ll be good.”

Anton frowned. This wouldn’t be a problem, not since he’d gotten Unwavering, anyway. He should be fine as long as she wasn’t too far away, but he’d miss her… wisdom wasn’t the right word. Her unique perspective on things.

I’m already talking like a courtier, Anton thought.

This was the King, though, so a frown was all that Anton could do. He didn’t protest as Kelsey was led away. He could still contact her through Suliel.

The chamberlain returned and bowed to them.

“This way, my Lord.”

Anton and Suliel followed the man deeper into the palace. Suliel had guessed that this was going to be a private audience, but precedent had been departed from so violently she couldn’t be sure.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

It turned out to be a semi-private meeting. A high table, with the King and five other people sitting on it, overlooked two smaller tables, set at an angle to each other.

“Don’t use Discernment here,” Suliel whispered, looking around the room.

Anton nodded. He hadn’t been planning to. He had gotten better at using it to identify enemies, but it still felt rude to him. He looked around for himself. The main light source of the room was the pair of light stones in the centre, leaving the walls deliberately unlit. Anton’s eyes could pierce the darkness, though, and he noted that the walls were lined with alcoves, some of which were covered by curtains, while others held darkly dressed figures.

Some of them were clearly guards, while others were harder to identify. They could be servants, wizards or even assassins. All Anton could tell was that they didn’t carry obvious weapons.

They were led to seats at one of the smaller tables. They sat, and Suliel pulled Anton down to whisper in his ear.

“You know the general, of course.” Anton didn’t know Idran Sehhur, but he remembered the tall warrior with deep black skin from their brief interaction last night. Even if he hadn’t the shining breastplate and gold-trimmed robes would have made his identity clear.

“I don’t know the woman next to him, but sitting next to her is Prince Driecht.”

The woman in question was older, with tightly braided hair. Prince Driecht was a tall, lean man with obsidian skin and glittering eyes. Suliel skipped over the King as he didn’t need an introduction.

“Next to the King is Lord Whiden, the Chancellor.”

Anton wasn’t sure of the difference between a Chamberlain and a Chancellor but resolved to try and remember which older gentleman was which. Suliel didn’t know the final person at the table, but they could both tell from his deep midnight blue robes that he was a priest of Tiait. The heavy gold medallion around his neck told them he was a high-ranking one.

They all sat in silence for a few moments. None of the high-ranking nobles wished to speak, while Suliel and Anton didn’t dare. About a minute later, three more men were shown into the chamber. They wore robes and—Anton quickly used Sense Magic—they had dungeon cores around their necks. To Anton’s magic sense, the cores glowed brightly enough to be seen through the robes. Wizards, then.

“This hearing will now come to order,” Lord Whiden drawled. “At issue is the Charter of the Grey Oaths mercenary company, who broke the King’s Peace with an attack on the mansion belonging to Baron Nos. The Charter of the Wizard’s Guild, who are said to have ordered this attack. And the Title of Baron Nos, yet to be confirmed by the King, over the events of his accession and the events of last night.”

Anton gulped. He didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, but it sure sounded like he was being thrown in with these other criminals. The Chancellor looked around as if waiting for someone to speak up. The middle wizard looked like he wanted to. He was red in the face and he was holding his mouth firmly shut, but he was glaring at the Chancellor.

“We’ll start with you, General,” the Chancellor said.

General Sehhur shrugged. “It seems pretty clear cut,” he said. “We caught them in the act, casualties and the remains of siege weapons strewn all over Baron Nos’s lawn. We captured their commander, Rhenar Vhorrin and most of the survivors. Some of them slipped our net. Vhorrin has requested that his men be spared in return for his testimony against his employer.”

The general turned and gave the wizards a predatory look. “But we captured his employer as well, so any testimony he gives is of dubious value. An… informal conversation established that he doesn’t have any surprises for us.”

“And this was the Grey Oaths?” the King enquired.

“Except for the wizard, every one of the attackers was registered as Grey Oaths,” General Sehhur confirmed. “From what we can gather, the force was about a third of the Grey Oath’s nominal capacity and half of what they are supposed to have active in the city. Vhorrin tried to claim that the contract was for his squadron alone, and the rest of the company were unaware.”

“Yeah, that’s nonsense. The captain is either in collusion or incompetent, leave it to the courts to find out which. Revoke the Charter and charge the ones we have in custody. The others will have to take their chances.”

That was bad news for the rest of the Grey Oaths, Anton knew. Without a Charter, mercenaries were little more than bandits and were often treated as such. Some of them might join another company or individual mercenaries could beg leave from a lord to stay in their demesne. Some of the delvers in Kirido had been of that persuasion, but they’d mostly been pressed into military service before the raid.

“Moving on,” the Chancellor said. “We have the matter of the Wizard’s Guild Charter.” He looked expectantly at the wizards, who glowered.

“I beg leave to speak on this matter, my lords,” the middle wizard said, looking as if he was choking.

“Proceed,” the Chancellor replied.

“My Order is shocked by the actions of the traitor, Corbraith. We disavow all knowledge of his actions and request the return of the item he stole from us.”

“And what item might that be?” the Chancellor asked.

“His—the core that was in his possession,” the wizard said. “His… use of it was contingent on his membership, and so, once we became aware of his treachery, he was no longer permitted to carry it. He stole it, and we would like it returned.”

“Hmmm.” The Chancellor turned to General Sehhur. “No mention of a core was made in your report, General.”

“That is correct,” Sehhur said easily. “No core was found on the scene.”

“But that’s—” The wizard stopped with a sudden realisation. He turned slowly to Anton. “You have it,” he said coldly.

Anton looked at the angry wizard, and then at the nobles sitting in judgement, trying to work out where he stood. There seemed no point in denying it, Kelsey had already mentioned it to the General.

“Kelsey has it,” he admitted.

A small muscle started throbbing on the side of the wizard’s head. “A… that dungeon has another one of our cores?”

Anton thought about what he knew of the laws regarding wizards. Laws were not his strong point, to put it mildly. But he did have an interest in the laws as they pertained to adventurers, and wizards—some of them—were adventurers.

“Only the one,” he said. “She awarded the other to a mage in my employ.”

“She—” The mage turned stiffly towards the main table. “Your majesty, I must insist that this unknown mage be inducted into the Guild!”

The King blinked slowly. “Nobles have the prerogative of hiring a court mage who is not in the Guild,” he said. “You know this.”

“But, but, she stole the core!”

“Ah,” the King said. “A worrying accusation indeed. The events of that day have yet to be fully accounted for. However, they took place on the lands claimed by Baron Nos.”

The wizard just looked puzzled. Anton did too, but that was because he was wondering who Baron Nos was, and why he was claiming Anton’s barony.

“Should Baron Nos be confirmed,” the King explained, “he will have the right to judge the righteousness of the events that took place on his lands.”

“But that’s—he can hardly be considered an impartial—”

“To question my noble's judgement is to question my judgement,” the King cut in firmly. “Is that what you wish to do?”

“No, your Majesty.”

“Of course, that just goes to show why we must consider such questions carefully. I believe the matter of Baron Nos is next on the agenda, Lord Whiden?”

“It is, your Majesty.”

“Excellent. You can go,” he told the wizards.

“What? I mean, I’m sorry?”

“You can go,” the King repeated. “The Wizard’s Guild has no interest in the lands of a minor noble, so you may leave. Seek out Baron Nos once his fate has been decided.”

The wizard’s face worked furiously as he held back whatever he wanted to say. Eventually, he just bowed his head. “As you say, your Majesty. By your leave.”

They all left.

“Now,” the King said. “Let us discuss the matter of you.”