Free Sworn To Defiance by Terah Edun Page B

was so close to her. She wasn’t sure if Thanar noticed. Either way neither man said anything, even though they both clearly detested each other.
    Good to know they’re capable of working together in crisis . Now if I could only get them to behave all the time and stop springing nasty surprises for me to find in their wake .
    Ciardis almost laughed at that. It was kind of amusing to think the chains around her mage core that bound her to each respective gentleman as a nasty surprise.
    Yep, it’s the blood loss. Making me a bit insane .
    She watched as Thanar’s eyes met the other man’s. Whatever the man saw in the daemoni prince’s gaze, whether retribution or evil intent, made him blanch in response. Nevertheless, to his credit he stood his ground, squared his shoulders, and announced his true intentions. Or at least he tried to. All that came out at first was an embarrassing croak.
    “Come now,” Sebastian said irritably. “Whatever you’ve got to say, say it. Are you really here on my father’s orders?”
    Ciardis’s lip twitched. He didn’t know she already spoken to the man. But it would be interesting to find out if the emperor had been aware of the nobles’ planned gathering. Besides, it looked like the wing around Sebastian’s shoulder was irritating him more than he let on.
    “I did not lie about that,” the man confirmed.
    “Then what was it that you did lie about?” Thanar said softly.
    This time the man visibly gulped. “It is the nobles’ courts that have given orders to detain you for your own protection. The emperor did not give an order countermanding that directive, so I followed through his implicit command.”
    “Why would the nobles’ court make this request?” Sebastian demanded.
    “Your incursion into the Duke of Carne’s villa was only the last of many offenses which has set the nobles’ court to unease,” the captain replied.
    Ciardis frowned. “We followed the rules for this ‘incursion.’ We only took four people. It was a personal mission and we didn’t mean for the duke to die. Besides we didn’t kill the duke of Carne.”
    The man raised surprised eyebrows but waived his hand. “They don’t care if you killed anyone. They care that you’re taking on nobles with personal militias and winning. Besides, those blasts were mercenary-grade.”
    Ciardis frowned. “Those weren’t ours.”
    “Then whose were they?”
    Sebastian squeezed her shoulder in warning. They needed Jason and they needed to know what he knew. They couldn’t betray him.
    She shook her head. “I didn’t come over here to argue with you. Do what you came to do.”
    The man shrugged his shoulders. “It’s your funeral.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means I’ve been ordered to take you back to the imperial court under the protection of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Bastien Athanos Algardis on charges of destructing the peace and you will be arraigned in front of the nobles’ court to hear their accusations.”
    An unhappy look crossed Ciardis’s face. This morning just got better and better.

Chapter 9
    C iardis bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something she’d regret. She wanted a healing session, a bed, a bath, some breakfast, and a long, private conversation with the males standing to either side of her. In that order. The conversation was optional. The healer and the bath were not. The last time she had had a proper bath was almost a week ago. She’d managed to bum a shampoo session from the emperor’s attendants and had a bucket bath in the cavern two nights ago.
    That just wouldn’t do.
    She had standards. Appearing before the nobles’ court when she and her entire entourage smelled like cows wasn’t up to her code of appearance.
    Ciardis Weathervane might be covered in blood and bone-tired but she would be damned if some pipsqueak soldier was going to escort her anywhere without acceding to her demands first.
    She stepped forward.
    Sebastian hastily reached