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trust any oath he gives you? This man killed his king!”
    “Yes, and for good reason.” Queen Tresea gave him a blinding smile that looked charming on the surface. It made Darius’s survival instincts sit up and quiver. “But you raise a point that I shall address. Raj Quetel! I believe that when your estate was conquered, your wife and two daughters were taken captive by General Bresalier.”
    Quetel? Darius blinked and turned to look more carefully at the crowd. That had been early in the campaign, barely two months in, but he remembered the incident well. It had been the only estate they captured that still had the ruling family in it. He had been so disgusted by the Raj abandoning his family there without proper protection that he had taken them in and personally guaranteed their safe delivery to the queen. It had taken nearly a week of negotiations to manage it.
    “My Queen, may I speak?” a very familiar female voice asked above the din of the crowd.
    “Please do,” Tresea invited.
    From the crowd, a young woman emerged. She wore the deep red of a woman of nobility, and her stomach was slightly rounded out with child. Darius blinked at that, as the last he had seen her, she had been only betrothed and not yet wed. But aside from the child within her, she had clearly not changed much. Her dark hair floated around her shoulders as she walked to him, and her almond eyes crinkled up into a smile.
    “General. I am pleased to see you well.”
    He bowed his head to her respectfully. “Raja Tailli.” When he raised his head, he gave her a more frank study and smiled at her smile. “You glow with happiness. It pleases me.”
    “Thanks to you,” she acknowledged. “Perhaps now I can return the favor?” With a wink, she turned to face her peers and her chin lifted in open challenge. “This man gave his word to me and my family that he would see us safely delivered to the queen. He took us under his protection. We stayed within his own tent for a week and not once was shame or harm brought upon us. I know him to be a man of his word. You will not question this.” That last had an edge of warning to it.
    “Well said,” Queen Tresea acknowledged with a clap of the hands. “Thank you, Raja.”
    Darius turned to Tailli and gave her another bow, this one of sheer gratitude. She did not have to step up and defend him, and he appreciated that she stuck her political neck out for his sake.
    She returned the bow with one of her own and her smile softened as she retreated back into the crowd.
    Tresea’s voice rang out so that it reached every ear that listened. “I will accept this man’s oath.” Her tone added you will be wise to do likewise.
    Darius took this as his cue. He turned back around and knelt on one knee in front of her. His free hand he put on his knee in a gesture of open trust and supplication. The other was a fist that he planted against the ground.
    “Queen Tresea of Niotan, I offer you this: my strength until it has failed me, my courage until it is gone, my wits until they have faded, and my loyalty until you release me.” He lifted his head and locked his eyes with hers. “As long as you protect the people of Niotan, I will do the same. You have my word.”
    This oath was the traditional one that an Arapeen would use. Darius had no idea what the Niotan version was, nor did he care. This oath, he knew that he could keep without his soul paying the price. But whatever they had expected from him, this clearly wasn’t it. The whole room froze, as if they were afraid to breathe, and then everyone seemed to try to talk at once.
    General Shixi took two hesitant steps towards him. Darius tracked the movement from the corner of his eye. “General Bresalier,” he asked in a tone that was not challenging, but openly curious, “is this the oath you gave to the dead king?”
    Darius did not turn away from Tresea’s eyes. Her eyes held a fierce light of triumph that held him captivated. “It