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Tamrovia?”
    She shook her head. “It's an absolute monarchy. Stefan claimed she was aiding me by casting harmful spells on prospective suitors.”
    He lifted a brow. “And was she?”
    She shrugged. “Nothing very important. Maybe a minor rash now and then.” She bristled. “And they deserved it.”
    “I'm sure they did.”
    “Well, naturally I couldn't just leave her in prison. Clancy Donahue, Chief of Security of Sedikhan, and I broke her out and smuggled her across the border to Sedikhan.”
    “I've heard of Donahue. I once tried to hire him as head of my security force.”
    She shook her head. “Clancy would never leave Alex Ben Raschid or Sedikhan.”
    “I found that out. Pity. He's a remarkable man. Go on. I gather your troubles weren't over when you reached Sedikhan.”
    “They should have been, but Marna was miserably unhappy in Sedikhan. She has very close ties to her tribe and she missed her people. So I went back and tried to pacify Stefan.”
    “Pacify?” All humor vanished from his face. “How?”
    “I thought if I was pleasant to some of the men Stefan wanted me—”
    “Pleasant.” The word was razor sharp. “Is that a euphemism for sleeping with them?”
    Her eyes widened with surprise. “Of course not. I told you, those kinds of men really were interested only in my title. I'm not exactly a sex symbol, you know.”
    She honestly believed what she said, Zack realized. She didn't know that her extraordinary vitality alone was a sexual draw. “I'm afraid I forgot,”he drawled while wondering how a woman in her position could have remained so damned naive.
    “Well, it isn't important. It didn't work out anyway. I'm not very docile and things happened…”
    He was sure he would be fascinated to know about those “things,” but at the moment he needed to get her to the crux of the story. “And?”
    “I returned to Sedikhan to wait for Stefan's temper to cool. I was going to try again, but Marna was impatient. She wanted to see her people, if only for a visit. So I smuggled her back across the border into Tamrovia.”
    “Quite a busy border.”
    “It's not amusing. Stefan had men waiting at the Gypsy camp when we got there.” She frowned. “I don't know how he knew that we'd be there. No one in Sedikhan would have betrayed us.”
    “So Marna is in prison again?”
    “She's under guard in an apartment close to mine at the palace. Stefan thought it would be more difficult for me to bribe the palace guards.” She added dryly, “Not that I would have had the money to do it.”
    “So that's the present situation?”
    She hesitated. “That's not quite all of it. About six months ago Stefan appointed a new adviser, Sandor Karpathan. I think he might be manipulating Stefan by pitting us all against each other to further his own ends.”
    “Why do you think that?”
    “I don't know. He's always very polite and charming. It's just that there's something—”
    “Woman's intuition?”
    “Woman's
judgment
,” she corrected. “Besides, Marna doesn't trust him.”
    “Ah, the final condemnation.” He held up his hand as she opened her lips to protest. “I'm not mocking you or Marna, Kira. I believe in instincts. I've relied on my instincts all of my life. Is Karpathan the principal reason for this sudden urgency?”
    She nodded. “I was nearly frantic. He frightens me. I didn't know what to do. Then Marna sent for me and told me about you.”
    His stillness took on charged tension. “Really? What did she tell you?”
    “Not nearly enough,” she said crossly. “Onlythat when you were a boy in your teens you traveled with her tribe one summer. She said she'd met you when she'd left the palace and gone back to the caravan to nurse her mother for a few months. I understand she's kept track of you through the years, she feels strongly that if anyone can get her out of Tamrovia, it will be you. She said you and a man named Nick O'Brien went into Said Ababa right after the revolution