From the dim depths of the pyramid, Thelios gazed at Starlex. His dark eyes caught the fire of the torch he held and glimmered with expectation.

  Starlex trailed her fingers along the mural depicting the world she knew so well and longed to return to. She had never seen it from this perspective except for the few times she had caught a glance at a map in King Scipio’s war room.

  She looked up at Thelios with tears pooling in her violet eyes. “It’s all true.”

  Thelios sighed. Leaning on his tall staff he said, “I knew it in my heart, but I had to keep locked up like a secret treasure.” His voice became a whisper as if he spoke only to himself. “Here is the place where the world opens every nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine years. According to my calculations, that event occurred one moon ago. I brought oxen here and a horse and a chariot from my own stables to test the theory. The next morning they were gone, and,” he reached out to touch a white lock of hair that poked out from her veil, “then you appeared, frightened and shivering in my garden.”

  Starlex gazed up at the oculus in the ceiling. “So this is the God Gate.”

  Thelios gasped. “Is that what you call it in Ardelym?”

  “Yes, but it is heavily guarded by the Wols, a sisterhood of women as barren as the land surrounding it guard it year-round. It is Ardelym’s most sacred place, but here,” she raised a slim white arm and gestured toward the shaft of white light penetrated the ceiling, “you leave it unguarded, in a place of ignominy and ruin.”

  Thelios rested his bearded chin on the knob of his staff and said, “The Saganah dynasty has ruled for over a thousand years. They will accept no other god but the king. To worship any other is grounds for execution.”

  Starlex stepped toward Thelios and gently touched his wide sleeve. “So, you are putting yourself at great risk to bring me here. Why?”

  “Because, little one, before I take my last breath I need to know if a lifetime’s worth of study has proven true. You, who fell from the sky, are my angel, my salvation. I come from a long line of mages called the Hermestrati, but our kind is now considered witches, one with demons. For many years, we became nothing more than pathetic peddlers of medicinal herbs. But my medicine has magic in it.”

  His voice grew in power as he continued. “King Sabium knows my magic is the only thing that has kept him alive all these years. He protects me, but my magic can’t keep him alive forever. He’s already weakening. His sister, Esmeralda, grows stronger every day. Her city on the hill prospers while ours degenerates into the likes of that brothel from which you escaped. The king has yet to produce an heir. Esmeralda awaits his death like a carrion bird tracking a man across the desert sands.”

  Starlex shuddered when she recalled how she nearly died from such a fate. “How can I help?”

  Thelios turned and smiled, and the lines of age on his face softened. “By just being you. I needed to know if your Ardelym was real. Now that it's been confirmed, I will bring you to the king.”

  Starlex stiffened.

  “Do not be afraid, little one. You will discover that King Sabium Saganah is,” he paused, his mouth forming an ironic smile, “quite harmless.”

  * * *

  Bonn had scarcely opened his eyes at the sound of the cock’s crow when a cool shadow crossed his bed of straw.

  He inwardly groaned when he saw Esmeralda, wearing a fresh coral-colored gown and her gold bracelets still vibrating from her morning ride. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkling.

  When he didn’t respond right away, she gave his thigh a sharp kick.

  “Wake up, lazy,” she said with a pretty pout. “I brought you a new training partner.”

  Bonn swung his aching legs onto the rough wooden floor and rubbed his eyes. Through the window, he gazed at the relentless sun appearing like a red ball over the desert sands.

  She must have set out before dawn, he thought wearily.

  Dragging the three-legged stool across the floor, she sat down in front of him. “Here,” she said, lifting the wicker basket and setting it on his lap. “I brought you breakfast.”

  The Skaard’s belly rumbled with appreciation. He opened the basket and the yellow snake unfurled itself.

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  Esmeralda made a tinkling laugh as she picked up her pet serpent. “Your face turned white as the sands!”

  “I don’t eat snake for breakfast, princess,” Bonn replied throatily.

  Esmeralda cocked an arched eyebrow. “There’s bread, cheese, and tea in there too, Bonn Skaard.”

  Bonn reopened the basket cautiously. The serpent wound around the princess’s arm. She watched with her chin propped on her hands as Bonn finished each bite.

  “Now,” she said, standing and extending her hand.

  For a moment, Bonn thought she expected another bout of lovemaking that he was not sure he could deliver on. He was relieved when she led him to the ladder.

  “I have another surprise for you,” she said, then gave his lips a quick kiss.

  Having no other choice, he followed her down to the stable.

  A muscular man with ebony skin sat on a bench by Flame’s stall, whetting the blade of a longsword with a stone.

  “This is Telemoko,” Esmeralda said proudly. “The finest swordsman in all of Mudárah. You will train with him.”

  The men exchanged a nod of heedful respect.

  “That’s a nice weapon you have there, mate,” Bonn said, sliding his eyes from pommel to point.

  “It should be,” said Telemoko, his voice as textured as the straw beneath his sandals. “This sword was handed down to me from my father, and his father before that.” His dark eyes met Bonn’s and locked onto them. “He is kin to the great Corelleas.”

  A lighting bolt penetrated Bonn’s brain. This was the first he had heard any reference to his home planet.

  Esmeralda draped a cool white arm around his neck. “Don’t pout, my handsome Skaard,” she said. “Your weapon is equally fine.” She dropped her eyes to Bonn’s crotch and laughed at her own joke.

  Telemoko smirked in a way that told Bonn he had known the princess intimately as well.

  “Here!” she said, dashing spritely to a long carpetbag on the floor. She knelt before it. And then gazing back to milk the suspense she opened the bag to reveal a sword. Tightening her slim fingers around the gold-inlaid grip, she stood and dragged the heavy weapon from the bag.

  “Easy with that, milady,” Bonn said, approaching her gallantly. "You're far too delicate to handle that."

  Her long eyelashes fluttered around her coal-rimmed eyes as she let Bonn take the weapon.

  Gripping the sword with both hands, he held it aloft. A gleam of light from the open stable door caught the weapon's edge and sent fractal, iridescent light around the room in dancing rainbow shards.

  The display of light reminding Bonn instantly of Starlex, of the sparkle in her violet eyes, how her pale skin would shimmer in certain light. Guilt washing over him like a black wave, he lowered the sword.

  Esmeralda was on him in a flash. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like the sword?”

  Telemoko huffed. “He’s never seen a weapon so fine. That’s all.”

  “Bonn Skaard,” scoffed the princess. “I took this weapon from the royal treasury. It’s forbidden by Mudárah law for anyone, even a princess, to remove an item this rare from our vaults. Why this is Illymium steel. It came from a faraway world—“

  “I know where it came from!” Bonn cried. He dropped the sword on the straw and stumbled like a drunken man into the practice arena now washed in bright, hot sunlight.

  Esmeralda chased after him to the sound of Telemco’s wry laughter.

  “What is wrong with you?” she cried, pattering his back with her fists. The yellow snake on her arm rose, alert, its forked tongue darting toward Bonn’s flesh. “I give you everything and still you are unhappy.”

  Bonn turned to face her. “It is not you, milady.”

  A curtain of understanding dropped down her face. Her emerald eyes narrowed into sharp-cut gems. “It’s another woman.” She gripped his arm tightly, her gold-tipped nails dug in, drawing blood.

  “Yes,” Bonn said. “I am married, milady. I should have told you—“

  His words were cut short by a sharp slap across his face.

  Telemoko leaned in the doorway of the stable watching the lovers' scene unfold.

  “You made me fall in love with you, you swine!” she cried.

  Bonn bobbed his head to avoid the snake’s darting forked-tongue. Its white fangs dripped venom.

  Bonn shot a look at Telemoko whose dark eyes twinkled with amusement.

  The princess regained her composure and cocking her chin imperiously announced, “I demand to know your wife’s name!”

  “She is, milady—“

  “Dead?” she answered hopefully.

  Bonn shook his head. “Lost.”

  Esmeralda’s nostrils flared as she released a breath. “I will find this wife of yours, my rival, and when I do—“

  Bonn lifted his eyes, challenging her in his ice-cold gaze.

  “When I find her, I will place her head atop the palace’s highest parapet. Ask Telemoko what happened to his wife!”

  Telemoko dropped his gaze to kick up a cloud of dirt with the toe of his sandal.

  “Now,” she said as she removed three gold bracelets from her arm. “You will fight, and the first man who draws blood will get these.” She threw the gold in the dirt. The jewelry clattered and caught the light.

  Without even a warning cry, Telemoko ran toward Bonn with his sword flying overhead.

  Esmeralda lightly stepped out of this path. Bonn caught the man low and flipped him over his back. Telemoko landed in a low crouch, turned, and came at Bonn again.

  Bonn circled him. “Hand me the sword, milady. This match isn’t fair.” His chin flew back as the sword parted the hot air in a silver arc. The blade sliced off a chunk of Bonn’s beard.

  Esmeralda cuddled her snake and laughed her silvery laugh.

  “Milady, you are too cruel.” Bonn jumped with both feet in the air over the blade’s swing and landed a mule-kick into his opponent’s chest. Telemoko fell to the sand with a grunt.

  “Please, milady,” Bonn begged.

  “Do you forswear your oath to your wife and swear allegiance to me?”

  Bonn could only grunt as he prepared for the Telemoko’s next assault. Their feet made deep ruts in the sand as one circled the other.

  Esmeralda’s bosom panted with quick breathes at the contest of strength playing out before her.

  “You are a strong man,” Telemoko grunted in a whisper. “Tell the little fool you love her and all will be well?”

  “I won’t forswear my wife,” snarled Bonn.

  A flash of respect shone in Telemoko’s eyes. Bonn, thinking he had made a pact of masculine understanding, weakened his counter-attack for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, Telemoko knocked Bonn off-balance with a jabbing kick to his thigh. Bonn stumbled backward, groaning as the searing blade parted his flesh.