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"Highness, you're shaking!" he said. "Are you cold?"

"I fear I am growing so." Tanalasta glanced around the chamber and asked, "Is everything ready here?"

Though the room looked empty enough, the princess knew that more than a dozen dragoneers stood concealed behind a wall of false bookshelves along the near wall. A pair of war wizards sat inside a curtained arrow loop, and two more were crouching behind the duke's heavy desk. The rest of the company-a hundred handpicked warriors and another dozen war wizards-waited in the stairwell below, ready to charge into the room the instant the trap was sprung.

"We are as ready as we can be," said Owden.

He led Tanalasta across the room to a broad oaken wardrobe and opened the door. Inside, the cabinet looked less like a closet than a coffin built for two. It was actually an iron box disguised as a wardrobe, with a thick lining of padded leather and a steel lock bar that could only be opened from the inside. The princess knew better than to think it would prevent a ghazneth from getting at her, but it would certainly buy a few moments to use her weathercloak and escape.

Tanalasta stepped inside and took hold of the weapon she would use to destroy Luthax-an ancient gem-encrusted crown that had once belonged to King Draxius Obarskyr. She glanced down at her stomach, now so swollen she could no longer see her toes, then said, "I hope the door will close."

"I'm quite sure it will, Highness," Owden said. He stepped in beside the princess and, despite his confident assurance, pulled the door shut to make sure. "You see?"

"Quite," Tanalasta said. The leather padding pushed her belly up toward her breasts, but she heard the locking bar clack as it fell into place. "But let's not close it until we must, if you don't mind."

Owden let out a growl of disapproval, but opened the door again. Almost at once, Tanalasta smelled the acrid odor of brimstone and noticed a yellow haze hanging in the room. Her first thought was that Luthax had smelled a trap and was trying smoke them out, but then something heavy landed on the roof and the whole tower began to tremble. A gravelly voice reverberated down through the ceiling planks, as powerful and as deep as an earthquake.

"Where have you been, child? I have needs."

"I… I know." Orvendel's reply was barely audible as it drifted down the stairs. "The princess has forced all nobles to bring their magic to the royal palace. You must have-"

"So I noticed," rumbled Luthax. "You should have warned us. Had there been time, we could have ambushed them. With all that magic… you know it would not have been long before we made you one of us."

Tanalasta's heart skipped a beat, and she heard Owden hissing through his teeth next to her. This was not something Orvendel had told them-that he was trying to become a ghazneth-but it made perfect sense. In her mind's eye, she could see him pointing down through the ceiling and mouthing the word "trap." She felt like a fool for thinking she understood how the boy thought-but not too big a fool. Even as they spoke, there were a hundred dragoneers approaching on hippogriffs, ready to meet the ghazneth in the air and drive him back down to the roof. In the end, the only difference would be how Cormyr remembered Orvendel Rallyhorn and how Tanalasta thought of herself.

But Orvendel was not as naive as he had once been. There was a long pause, then he said, "I've helped you find twice that much magic. If you were going to make me one of you, you'd have d-done it by now."

The next sound Tanalasta heard was a body tumbling across the roof. She thought for a moment Luthax had killed the boy, then the ghazneth addressed him again.

"I have a thirst, child. It is not a good time to toy with me."

"I'm not." Orvendel's voice was so soft that Tanalasta barely heard what followed. "I have something special for you."

"Where?" demanded Luthax. "I feel no magic."

"Not magic-something better," said Orvendel. In the box next to Tanalasta, Owden cursed