The first few years of the Blood-Bound Sovereigns' reign passed, and Karelin rebuilt. In splendor, it did not yet surpass the Holy City over which Korvan had ruled, but the dreams of a people unleashed from the bondage of their bloodlines gave energy to a new era of industry and invention. Schools, hospitals, and businesses rose up in the Arcborn quarter, nurtured with laws and support from the highest tier, and Arcborn voices on the Integrated Council ensured that the marked had a hand in the shaping of the world of tomorrow.

Matei and Mhera could participate in the building of this new world, but they could do little to change what was in the hearts of the people. Theirs was a world that had been built on a society of caste division, suspicion, and inequality. It would take more than a generation to unmake the patterns Emperor Worien had lain when he raised his family's lot and cast the line of the Blessed Sovereigns into shadow.

Neither Matei nor Mhera shrank from the work, and they made progress together...but nowhere were the challenges yet facing the Blood-Bound Sovereigns more apparent than in heightening tensions with the subject nation of Narr.

Queen Coratse Ja'alla's demands had been clear. She had declared independence from Penrua, but hers was not the only voice in Narr, and there were many kingdoms in that nation standing loyal to the Penruan Empire. After months of diplomatic missives and a tense, heavily-guarded convention in Tuamach, Matei and Mhera had yet to grant independence to the subject nation. Allegiances changed by the day, with great houses first aligning with Coratse and then with their history of loyalty to the higher throne, and it was a challenge to keep straight by the day who was "winning" a war yet undeclared.

The matter of Narrian independence was not a simple question, for Coratse was harboring Koren and the archmage. Were they to grant Narr independence, the Blood-Bound Sovereigns might bring an end to the conflicts that had yet to escalate into all-out war. They might refine the terms of their separation from Narr and ensure that trade would not suffer. But the one request Matei and Mhera had—for Coratse to turn Koren and the archmage over to Penruan justice—had been flatly denied.

The Blood-Bound Sovereigns were loath to risk granting the nation independence with the festering sore of the renegade prince unhealed.

Queen Coratse had granted him refuge, but how long would he content?

***

The sound of a high-pitched giggle punctuated the somber atmosphere of Matei's parlor. Mhera watched as Uarria scampered past her chair, chasing the huge, shadowy shape of Farra. The little girl's chestnut curls were Matei's mark in her, her mirthful, gray-blue eyes an echo of Mhera—but her restless energy was something all her own.

The hulking cat turned, lowering herself onto her forelegs and swishing her tail, her ears lain back and her whiskers playfully trembling. Uarria spread her arms, dashing forward and lunging for the cat. Farra gave a rumbling purr and leapt to her feet, darting past Uarria, who flung herself over Farra's back. She managed to cling to the shadowcat's back and was carried for a moment like a bundle over the back of a horse before she slipped off, nearly crying with laughter.

Matei and Mhera exchanged glances, both of them doing their best not to smile.

"I wish she wouldn't," Mhera murmured, clasping her hands. She still did not trust Uachi's shadowcat, although Farra had never so much as scowled at Uarria. Ever since the child had been born, the enormous cat had been like a second nursemaid. She usually accompanied Uarria's nurse when she came to collect the princess at bedtime and would sleep curled up on the rug in Uarria's room, her ears alert for any disturbances.

"Don't be like that," said Matei, finally giving in to laughter at the sound of Uarria's ear-piercing squeal. Farra had taken the four-year-old princess firmly between her forelegs and now curled up on the rug, bathing Uarria's cheek and chestnut hair with her massive, rough tongue.

"Stop! Stop!" Uarria wriggled, but her efforts to escape seemed half-hearted; after a moment, she sank back against Farra's shoulder and nestled her cheek against the cat's thick, black fur.

Mhera gazed at her daughter, a soft smile playing at her lips. If she had not known before that the path she walked was the right one, the birth of Uarria would have proven to her the necessity of a changed world. Sometimes, the burdens she carried were too heavy, and the work ahead of her so impossibly vast as to seem insurmountable, but one glimpse of Uarria's smiling face was enough to lend her the strength to go on. Uarria would grow up in a world that was better than the one she'd been born into. It would not be perfect, but it would be better; that was Mhera's dream and her vision.

At the door, a gentle knock drew Mhera's attention. Uachi's dark-haired sweetheart, Ealin, stood there with a tea tray. She bobbed a quick curtsy, and Mhera smiled. She had been taking pains to be kind to Ealin ever since Uachi had gone on a mission to the south of the continent weeks ago. She knew the girl must be lonely, and while Ealin seemed content to stay busy and had been working in many capacities as a servant in the palace, she did not seem to have many friends. "Come in."

"Alin!" Uarria said, sitting up and knocking heads with Farra as she did. The cat sneezed.

"Hello, Princess," Ealin said. She approached Matei and Mhera and set the tea tray down on the low table between them. There was a secret smile playing about her mouth; Mhera wondered if one of the guards outside had said something amusing.

Uarria got to her feet and scampered over, eagerly seeking a treat. Ealin had brought a bowl of berries, and Uarria reached out without hesitation to pluck up a handful. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, Your Highness," said Ealin. She smiled at Mhera. "May I bring anything else, Your Grace?"

"No, thank you," Mhera said. "Have a pleasant evening, Ealin."

"Oh—Your Grace? There's someone without who seeks an audience."

Matei shot Mhera a perplexed look. "This late in the evening?"

Mhera shook her head in response to Matei's question, nonplussed. Ealin said, "He was very insistent, Your Grace."

"Well, show them in," said Mhera. "Uarria, come here, sweet." She and Matei tried to avoid discussing matters of state when the little girl was present. They feared that no matter how mundane the talk—concerns about a trade agreement with Tyrria, talk of crop failures in the east—they would deprive Uarria of some of her innocence, some of her childhood, by burdening her with too much of such knowledge too young. Of late, affairs of state had centered around the skirmishes on the border between Penrua and Narr, and from that, both Mhera and Matei were desperate to shield their daughter.

Uarria, her lips red with berry juice, edged around the tea table toward Mhera, and the empress laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Ealin, would you mind calling for Sorinna on your way to your room? It's time for Uarria's bath."

The little girl frowned at Mhera as Ealin moved toward the door. "Mother," she said, as if disappointed in Mhera's lack of imagination for evening pastimes.

Mhera leaned down to kiss Uarria's forehead. "I'm afraid it is, my dear. Ask Father."

Uarria turned to look at Matei, knitting her brow, and the emperor gave a resigned, apologetic shrug. "Your mother is right, firefly. Come and give us a kiss. I will be there to tuck you in after your bath."

A booted footstep sounded at the door, and the dark shape of a large man loomed in the doorway. He exchanged a murmured word with Ealin. As soon as Uarria saw Mhera and Matei's late-night visitor, she shrieked, "Ouchie!"

With a gasp, Mhera reached out to catch the bowl of berries, which had nearly been upset by Uarria's flailing arm as she ran straight toward the door. A deep laugh greeted the child, and in the space of a breath, the stranger had swept the girl up and spun her around.

"Uachi!" Matei bolted to his feet. "I had not thought to see you for weeks!"

The ranger was a captain now; he had been elevated a couple years back to the post vacated due to Captain Alban's failing health. Nevertheless, he looked the same as he always had in his plain clothing and his leather armor, bristling with weapons. As he stepped farther into the room, Uachi glanced back at Ealin, the source of whose mischievous smile had now become clear. "I missed home," he said. "Don't worry—I'm off again soon."

"Soon?" Uarria echoed. She put her arms around Uachi's neck, laying her head against his shoulder. "No!"

Seeing Uachi with Uarria never failed to make Mhera smile. The brusque manner with which he treated every other human being—including Mhera and even Matei, his best friend—was nowhere in evidence when he was with the princess. He tended to brush off any observations about how fond he was of her, but it was clear to any observer that he loved the little girl. And Uarria loved him, too, without reservation. When she had first started to call people by their names, "Ouchie" had been the first, and she had maintained the nickname for him although she could pronounce his name properly now.

Farra had gone to greet Uachi as well. The captain made his way over to where Mhera and Matei were sitting, trying not to trip over the giant cat, who was purring and rubbing up against his legs. To Ealin, he said, "I've some news for Their Graces, and then I shall come to you."

Ealin crept out of the room,  closing the door behind her.

Matei reached out and looped an arm around Farra's chest to pull her back, giving Uachi space to sit down. He scratched her ear as she rumbled in protest, crouched down at her side. "What news?"

"Uarria, will you please bring me a book?" Uachi asked, pointing in the direction of Matei's bookshelves. "You'll know a good one."

The princess slid off his lap with a grin and ran across the room to the shelves, where she quickly became absorbed in studying a collection of books that dated from generations past. Uachi leaned in closer to Matei and Mhera. "The peace of the last months has broken. The fighting has begun again in earnest."

Mhera's heart sank. Matei put his hand over hers where it rested on her knee. Was it to be war, at last?

"Near seventy dead," said Uachi. "But that's not—"

"This one, Ouchie?" Uarria held up a small book with a blue cover.

"An excellent choice, Princess, but I was hoping for something with a red cover," Uachi replied.

"Oh." Unperturbed, she turned back to the shelf, haphazardly shoving the blue book back in with its fellows. She picked up a book bound in red cloth, eyed it with a frown, and said, "Boring," although she could not yet read. She discarded the selection and kept searching.

Mhera met Uachi's gaze as he looked back at the two of them, grim-faced. The levity that had laced his tone when speaking with Uarria was gone when he said, "Prince Koren has been seen riding out in the northern reaches of Narr."

"What?" demanded Matei. "That can't be."

"I'm afraid I believe it, Matei. His description fit, and what's more, there are rumors that a mage was with him."

Mhera felt sick. She closed her eyes, lowering her head. She had hoped that Koren would stay safely ensconced in the castle where he had taken refuge, content to live off the hospitality and misplaced respect of the woman who had ascended to become High Queen and uniter of the Narrian provinces. If Koren were riding out into battle, he must finally have grown bold enough to put whatever ambitious plans he had into action...and if the mage at his side was who she suspected, there were dark days ahead indeed.

"I found it! I found it!" Uarria scampered back across the room, a huge, leather-bound volume hugged to her chest. She threw herself into Uachi's lap, and he grunted, quickly smoothing away a grimace of pain as her heavy burden came to rest. "Look, Ouchie." Conversational now, she opened the cover of the book, using his lap as a support for it as she quickly flipped the pages. "I found this one. There's pictures in here that is maybe a pond and a tree, and this is a house where Alin lives. This is the blue one. And this is the green one. This is your house."

Uachi lifted his arm, sliding back into the chair to make room for Uarria, and she clambered up onto his lap, tucking herself into the chair with him. Uachi turned the book so that he could read it. "Ah, yes. The Collected Papers of Master Kiassar, Architect of the Second Era, a classic," he said, sparing a wry glance for Mhera, which made her smile despite his dark news. "This isn't my house, silly duck. Don't you know I live in your house?"

"You don't live in my house," Uarria said. "I didn't see you for a long time."

"Well, I had to go away for a while, but now I've come back, because this is my home."

Uarria frowned down at the book, still busily turning pages faster than anyone could hope to read them. "Why did you goed away?"

"To do some things for your Father and Mother, that's all. I'll stay here for a little while now before I have to go away again." 

Mhera's smile faded. The scene was so sweet: her daughter, nestled into Uachi's arms, heedless of his leather armor or the dagger at his side. It made her happy, so happy that her heart hurt. And it made her sad...terribly sad.

If only she could shield her. If only she could protect her. If only there were a way to save Uarria from ever learning how dark the world was.