But if she was not going back to Hadros’s castle, who would direct his household, whom would the faeys try to tame in her place, and what would Roric think when he came back again?

“So- You mean I am to stay here?” she asked King Hadros, turning in her father’s embrace. As she turned she realized that he had not said one word of regret or apology for sending her away.

“That is what I said, little princess,” Hadros said with a smile. “Acquaint yourself with your kingdom before you come to rule it. And that other matter-the matter of which we spoke-there is no haste for you to decide. Your dower chest will be safe for now in my castle. But accompany your father to the All-Gemot next year, and I shall bring Valmar with me again, and perhaps then we can reach an agreement.”

King Kardan lifted one eyebrow at her, but she shook her head. Valmar, she was quite sure, had no idea of any of this. For a second she wondered wildly if the rider with no back had been summoned by Hadros himself, to take Roric away permanently, and if he hoped that here, away from his castle with all its associations, she would quickly forget him.

Well, he might hope she would forget Roric, but she did not think any mortal king could make the Wanderers do his will. She gave Hadros a long look, not wanting to insult him and certainly not wanting to agree. “I shall consider,” she said gravely, “but I fear my answer will remain the same.”

They had not realized here any more than she had that Hadros intended to bring her home for good. The maids ran about madly preparing a suitable place, finally putting a bed for her in her mother’s old private parlor, off the royal bedchamber.

Karin lay between linen sheets, under a green brocade coverlet, her eyes open in the dark. She thought that they all acted as though treating her with the respect due the heiress to the kingdom would make up for the last ten years.