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bushes, started forward, but Lydia again warned her away.
    “That is an interesting proposal, my Lord,” she smoothly replied. “To what do I owe such an honor?”
    Shrugging, he advanced even farther, stopping about ten paces away. They now faced each other directly in the evening twilight, the woods unusually quiet.
    “Would we not make a good match?” he asked. “You are a very powerful royal, as am I. The King would doubtless approve. Who knows?” Smiling again, he almost laughed. “I may well succeed our current monarch. You could be the next Queen.”
    Groaning, she looked up at the canopy of trees covering the woods, the evening sky softly glowing up above. “Tenen, you’re only twenty. Too young to take a wife, and way too young to become King.”
    “But if we became betrothed...”
    “And who says I wish to get married at all?” she demanded. “This is absurd!”
    “Lydia, we both know you will have to marry one of your royal cousins in order to produce empowered children.”
    “I would bet my children would have power no matter who I married!” Once more, images of Anson came before her mind’s eye.
    “Please, Lydia. We both know that’s not the way it works.”
    At least officially, she silently countered, thinking of Belle’s musings on the genesis of empowered commoners. “Look, Tenen, when the time is right, my mother and I will discuss what’s best for my future. Until then...”
    “Ah, yes. The good Princess Aprina,” he rudely interjected. “Lydia, your mother’s welfare would be the best reason of all to become betrothed.”
    Pausing, Lydia strained to read his expression in the fading light. “I don’t understand.”
    “Your mother has a...a past, shall we say, you may not even be aware of,” Tenen explained. “She now possesses powerful enemies, people very close to our King. What better way to protect her than your own engagement to one of His Majesty’s favorites?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she seethed. “Get away from me!”
    “Fine.” Initially turning away, he now rotated back. “But remember, the time will come when you’ll need friends in high places.”
    “Like you? I think not.” Breathing heavily, she tried to keep her composure. “Isn’t your place with the army that left this morning?”
    “I’ll catch up on one of the Stallions. I’ll be with the army well before it reaches the Outlands.”
    The Stallions were a breed of large superhorses that could run at great speeds all day long. Only the royal family could ride them, but Lydia knew the Stallions all detested Tenen. “Well, do be careful, my Lord! Goodbye!”
    Lydia’s mock courtesy wasn’t lost on him. “As should you, my Lady. Can I escort you home? It’s getting dark.”
    Picking up a stick, she caused it to glow brightly, casting a beam of light to guide her. “I think I can manage.”
    “Of course.” Bowing low, he turned and strode down the path away from her. “Think on what I said,” he called out over his shoulder. In a moment Tenen was gone, swallowed up by the now foreboding forest.
     
    ***
     
    Tramping along with his unit, Anson watched yet another field of corn slide by. Now in the Kingdom’s rich central farmland, the royal army was still a two day’s march from the north-western frontier, scene of the latest Karden incursion.
    Surprisingly, Anson was enjoying his first military foray. After feeling uncomfortably close to the center of royal power in Brenlaw, and then the near-catastrophic encounter with the Demon in the castle, marching off to war felt like a walk in the park. Of course, he sternly reminded himself, that could all change when the first Karden arrow went whistling by his ear. But for now, at least, the current campaign was actually a welcome break from the constant tension of the last several weeks.
    The top twenty recruits had been merged with another thirty or so younger soldiers to form a platoon. That evening, Anson found