Damien dropped into the padded mahogany chair in front of her desk. To his right a cherry bookcase held hundreds of leather-bound books. “Was the unhappy young woman I saw what came up today?”
“My daughter, Lane. She’s one of the kingdom’s leading diplomats. I just gave her a new assignment.”
“The moment I saw her I thought diplomat, either that or berserker. I take it she didn’t care for her new task?”
His master smiled. “No, the assignment didn’t bother her. She’s mad because I assigned you to be her bodyguard. Lane doesn’t like sorcerers.”
Damien raised an eyebrow at that. “The daughter of the archmage doesn’t like sorcerers? That sounds awkward.”
“We’ve made peace. I don’t know if you noticed, but she doesn’t have any extraordinary power. Being born the daughter of a leading sorcerer and having no power of her own was hard for Lane. Spending time around sorcerers reminds her of what she doesn’t have.”
Damien could relate to that. “What about the assassin?”
“Right, that’s the reason you’re accompanying Lane. Baron Trasker hired the assassin to kill the king. He’s a border baron, one of ten. They’ve been complaining about taxes and threatening to secede from the kingdom, leaving us open to raids from the bandits living in the badlands. Lane’s going to their annual meeting to try and negotiate a settlement.”
Damien nodded. “And I’m going to keep her safe from Trasker.”
“Partly, but mainly you’re going in case she fails. If the barons can’t be persuaded to see reason you’re to remove them from their positions.”
“As in”—Damien drew a finger across his throat—“permanently?”
“Exactly. Keeping the border secure is too important to jeopardize because of petty, noble greed. It will also make a good example for their eventual successors. I’ve spoken to the king and you have full authority to resolve this with whatever force necessary.”
Damien nodded again. She wasn’t starting him off with an easy mission, to say the least. “Does Lane know my real job?”
“No, and I prefer you not tell her until the last possible moment. I don’t want her to think I don’t have faith in her abilities.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“Don’t forget to check in at each stop. If I have new information I’ll pass it along. Keep my daughter safe and come home in one piece. Good luck.”
Chapter 5
Damien left his master to brood in her office and followed Lane to the main gate. He couldn’t stop smiling. Even if she hated him, any assignment that got him out of the capital for weeks or maybe months was right up Damien’s alley. When in doubt, delay. Sound, if not especially brave, tactics.
He didn’t meet another soul until he reached the gate guards who waved him through. Since the ceremony last week everyone knew Damien and he could go wherever he wanted with no trouble. He shivered in the chill breeze as he passed under the raised portcullis, and through the open gates. A thin blanket of snow covered the ground, but the riot of footprints made it impossible to tell where Lane had gone.
Damien frowned and turned back to the guards. “Did you fellows see an attractive, pissed-off looking woman with short brown hair come this way?”
“I believe she was headed for the stables,” the right-hand guard said.
Damien touched his forehead in salute and headed left, expanding his shield and heating the air around him as he went. The stink of the stables, though reduced by the cold, still made them easy to find. Why would she bother with horses when he could fly them to the border in a day?
He found Lane in a fur-lined cloak right outside the stables, adjusting the straps of the saddle on a bay gelding. Her breath puffed in the air with each tug of the strap. Damien strode up and stopped a few feet away. “Morning. I’m Damien St. Cloud, I’ll be your bodyguard for this mission.”
Lane gave the strap one last yank and straightened up to face him. Jade eyes flashed in the bright morning sun. “So my mother said. I’ll tell you what I told her, I don’t need a bodyguard and I certainly don’t need a sorcerer tagging along on a diplomatic mission. All you people are good for is blowing things up.”
Damien certainly had a knack for blowing things up, but he liked to think that wasn’t the extent of his talents. “We don’t need horses, you know. I can fly us to the border by nightfall.”
“Ha! If we fly in there they’ll know you’re a sorcerer and they’ll think you’re along to intimidate them into doing what the king wants. If the barons feel threatened the negotiations will be over before they start. Besides, the meeting isn’t until March first. If we ride and take it easy, we should make it just in time.”
Ten weeks on the road and away from Karrie, that sounded fine to Damien. “Do you have supplies?”
“The grooms are loading a mule. There are army supply posts every ten days where we can get more food and swap horses. Are you ready?”
“I need to pack my gear and grab a sword so I’ll pass for a regular bodyguard. Other than that I’m good to go.”
“Well hurry up, I want to be out of here inside the hour.”
Damien nodded and jogged back toward the keep. When he’d moved past the guards he wrapped himself in an invisibility screen and flew a few inches off the ground so his steps wouldn’t draw attention. A lot of sorcerers forgot that part when they turned invisible. Clomping steps from thin air drew people’s attention. Not that he’d get in trouble if someone caught him, he just didn’t want to deal with the princess.
He flew through the halls at the speed of a brisk run, dodging servants and messengers as he went. The halls quieted as he approached the living areas. A single chambermaid carried a pile
