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the interlopers.”
    “But my father and my sister,” she protested, weakening in the sight of his excitement. Humiliation or no, it would be three dru … and she cared more about the money than being a hero.
    Rilen shook his head at her. “I’ll visit them every day and make sure that they’re well. It’s only for a sevenday, and think of how you’ll help our cause. When we find what the Athonites intend, we can find out the best time to strike! Soon we shall bring the castle down and the land will belong to the Vidari once more.”
    “Rilen, I don’t know.” The thought of spending a week inside the enormous stone walls of the palace, alone and friendless and an object of scorn—it frightened her. What if more of the soldiers came upon her? Would they stop at mocking her? Or would they take it one step further, as she was Vidari and therefore unimportant? She had heard tales the other girls told at gatherings, of soldiers and what they did to helpless Vidari women in dark alleys.
    Rilen’s hands clasped her cheeks and he forced her to look into his eyes. “I love you, Seri. I’ll come and see you every day, trust me. Won’t you do it for me? For us? So our children won’t have to grow up under Athoni rule?”
    He leaned in and kissed her fiercely, and at some point, she must have said yes, because it was decided.
     
    ~~* * * ~~
     
    That night, she had disturbing dreams. In them, her mouth pressed against a man’s, her naked body twined with his. Hands on hot flesh were everywhere, and her body craved something, anything, as she pulled him closer to her. The glow surrounding the two of them was blinding, the light in her bedroom bright enough to be midday, obscuring the face of her lover. When his luminescent body moved over hers and she parted her legs to invite him into her flesh, she saw his face.
    The face in her dream was not Rilen’s, but that of the handsome, cold Athoni nobleman, his dark eyes burning into her own as he possessed her.
    Seri awoke with a gasp.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    With Josdi’s sobs ringing in her ears and her sick father’s angry admonitions in her mind, Seri showed up at the gates to the castle the next morning anyhow, alone and on foot.
    Rilen had declined to go with her at the last minute—disappointing, but she couldn’t argue with his logic. If they see me here , he had told her, and then see me again when we carry out our plan, it might cast blame upon your shoulders.
    The last thing she wanted was for the Athoni prince’s wrath to be brought down on her own shoulders—and thus on Josdi and Father. So she had gone alone to the castle, her heart thudding in her breast, palms sweaty.
    She had dressed in her cleanest and least-worn dress, but the guards still snickered at the sight of her. To them she was a poor goosegirl with bare legs and loose hair, waiting patiently on her betters. Farmers were allowed into the outer bailey for the night market, but the inner gates had always been closed to her kind.
    One of the guards approached, fingering his sword and eyeing her with a lascivious gaze. “Well, well, what have we here? A bit of fine wild deer to come and whet our appetites?”
    Her cheeks red with humiliation, Seri glared at the man, resisting the urge to dart away and forget the entire matter. “I am here to see Lady Mila.” When he didn’t move, she added, “She has asked me to come and be her servant.”
    “Has she now?” He guffawed and elbowed the guard next to him. “I didn’t realize that Lady Mila was in the habit of taking in the local trash.”
    “She has asked to see me,” Seri repeated, holding herself stiff. “Please let her know I am here at her request.”
    The guard waved another man off and refocused his attention on Seri. “If we find out you’re lying, are you going to make it up to me for wasting my time, little wild girl?” He ran a finger down her arm. “Been a few moons since me and the boys have tasted a