Ellina sat up and swiped at her eyes.
“I know,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. “I know we weren’t supposed to be in the same place at the same time. But I had to see her, Lullabella. I had to say goodbye!”
“Of course you did, my sweet.” Her grandmother’s maid stroked her shoulder gently. “But now you must go. If anyone found out that the new Potentate risked the safety of the planet by coming to see the old Potentate…”
“You’re right.” Ellina sat up straighter and sniffed. “Of course you’re right. I…I must go.”
Standing up, she groped blindly for the door to the bedroom. Away from here—she had to get away, she told herself. And, forgetting all about the secret passageway, she left through the front entrance, wanting only to get as far from her grief as she could.
Chapter Forty-three
“Well, well, Your Highness—so here you are outside your royal apartments, just when I had despaired of getting into them to get to you. How very obliging of you to come to me.”
“What?” Ellina looked up uncertainly to see a familiar face staring down into her own. She frowned when she saw who it was.
“Captain Fundreg? What are you doing here in the palace? You were dismissed.”
The old captain of the Royal Guard glared at her, his face growing cold.
“Yes, I was indeed. I was blamed for not keeping Your Highness safe during the Feast of All Feelings at the coronation ceremony.”
“Well, the assassination attempt…” Ellina became suddenly aware that her old captain was not alone—in fact, he had a whole company of guards with him—most of them who had been dismissed and discredited after the coronation. Also, he had a firm grip on her arm.
Her feelings of overwhelming grief for her grandmother began to turn to fear and uncertainty. What was Fundreg doing here in the palace? And for that matter, what was she doing wandering the halls and passages at night? She should have gone back the way she’d come—should have taken the secret passageway. Why hadn’t she? Probably because she’d been too upset to think of it—too upset to think of anything but Grandmamma’s death.
The thought made her want to dissolve into tears again but she forced herself to consider the matter at hand.
“Let me go,” she said to Fundreg coldly, looking pointedly at his hand on her arm. “We are the Potentate—unhand us at once!”
But Fundreg only sneered at her.
“I don’t think so, Your Highness. You see, I obey orders from a different master now. And at the moment, his orders are to bring you down to the dungeons.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Ellina looked around wildly. How far was she from her royal apartments? Where was her new royal guard? Oh, why had she let herself be so distracted by grief and gone wandering around the palace at night? “Kiyda!” she called, raising her voice to a shout. “Captain Kiyda—your Potentate needs you!”
“None of that now!” Fundreg clapped one clammy hand over her mouth and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’ve got her,” he said to one of the other men he’d brought with him, “Now we have to find the chewchie that belonged to the Kindred. Search her—maybe it went back to the Potentate when it left him.”
Ellina was looked over but the only chewchie they found was Lor, who was clearly not Tisa because he was so much bigger than her. He hissed at them angrily and hid himself in Ellina’s gown which not even the traitorous guards dared to extract him from.
“Sorry, sir—the little Sacred Blue chewchie is not here,” one of the searchers said at last.
“Damn!” Fundreg growled and shook his head. “Well, it shouldn’t matter—we have what we need. Come on—let’s go.”
And though Ellina kicked and screamed and even tried to bite his hand, he simply picked her up and took her down the corridor towards the dungeons.
Chapter Forty-four
“Ty? Ty, can you hear me?”
The little voce was like a bee buzzing around his head. No, it was buzzing inside his head, Ty realized.
He looked around, trying to make out who it was in the darkness. He had finally overcome the last of the paralytic in the drug they’d given him and had been spending the last five minutes trying unsuccessfully to either break the lock or bend the bars. But his first assessment had been correct—the cage he was in was rusted and tough—there would be no breaking out if it.
“You don’t need to break out of it—I’m here, silly!” the voice exclaimed. “I’m here to help you.”
Suddenly Ty recognized the little voice.
“Tisa, what are you doing down here?” he demanded. “It’s not safe, little girl—you shouldn’t be here!”
“Nonsense.” Tisa’s mental voice was brisk. “Even though I’m not regarding you right now, I felt that you were in trouble through our link. So I left Ellina and Lor and came to find you. How did you end up down here?”
“That bastard, Kikbax had me drugged and dragged down to the dungeons,” Ty growled. “But listen, Tisa—it’s not safe for you down here. He wants to…” He had to swallow hard before he could continue. “Kikbax wants to kill you.”
“Kill me? The nerve of that man!” Tisa sounded more outraged than frightened at the idea. “I am a Sacred Blue chewchie! I was sent by Thufar himself to be the companion of the Lan’Graven. How dare he even think such a thing? Why, it’s sacrilege! Blasphemy!”
“That’s exactly what Captain Fundreg said,” Ty told her. “But Kikbax pointed out he was the High Priest and said he’d give him some kind of
