The Dawn Star by Catherine Asaro

weren’t alone. Four bodyguards in white and blue accompanied them, a few steps to either side or behind. Distracted, she looked up at Cobalt. He seemed as far away as the mountains.
    â€œCobalt?” she asked.
    His voice matched their cold surroundings. “What?”
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    â€œMy rooms.” His face was unreadable. The husband she had come to love was gone and a stranger had taken his place.
    Mel held back her questions. This wasn’t the time. She felt the loss of her former life like a physical pain. Applecroft glowed in her memory, an unattainable dream of warmth. The humble name referred to her parents’ orchards and estate in Harsdown. Her mother Chime had been a farm girl who married a prince, for a Dawnfield heir had to wed the most powerful mage he could find among Aronsdale’s eligible women. Chime had grown up taking her personal freedom for granted, and she raised her daughter the same way. Somehow Mel had to adapt to the icy formality of the Diamond Palace without losing herself.
    In pastoral, warm Shazire, she and Cobalt had grown close. Here in the place of his emotionally impoverished childhood, he had withdrawn. He had spent his life both hating Stonebreaker and struggling to prove his worth to his grandfather. She doubted he would ever understand that jealousy drove Stonebreaker to crush his sprit. The king would never forgive Cobalt for being more than him. He would never grant his heir the validation Cobalt sought. Mel feared this visit would tear open Cobalt’s wounds and destroy his hard-earned peace of mind.
    What that meant for the two of them, she couldn’t yet see, but she felt as if she were grieving the loss of the man she had known in Shazire. If this visit shattered Cobalt—if it let free the tyrant within him—the citizens of three countries would suffer the consequences of his despair.

    Jade met her hostage in a place that gave her advantage. It was an instinctive choice, but she knew her instincts well enough to trust them. She sat on her throne in the Audience Hall, with its golden walls and columns of rose marble. The ceiling was so high, birds flew beneath the skylights. A Kazlatarian carpet extended from the doors to the dais where Jade sat. Her cousin Baz stood by her side, impressive in his gold-and-crimson general’s regalia. She wore a gold silk tunic and pants, and a dagger on her belt.
    Three guards brought in her prisoner. Drummer Headwind was less imposing than she expected. His shaggy gold curls needed trimming and had no business being so appealing. He was dressed too informally to meet a queen. He hadn’t even fastened his shirt, for saints’ sake; she could see his leanly muscled chest halfway to his navel. He had a sensual walk, lithe and supple. Her pulse surged, but she tried to ignore it. His large blue eyes gave him an innocent look. Bah. She wouldn’t trust that angelic face as far as a thirsty soldier could spit.
    His guards—Javelin, Havej, and sullen Kaj—brought him to the dais and bowed. Drummer stood gaping at Jade until Kaj shoved his shoulder. Drummer went down clumsily on one knee, finally bending his head in the expected deference.
    She let him kneel for a while. Then she said, “You may rise.”
    He looked up, his face flushed. Then he got stiffly back up to his feet. Sweat had beaded on his brow. Either he wasn’t used to kneeling, which seemed unlikely given his relatives, or else his trip here had drained him more than it should have. That troubled Jade. A great difference existed between keeping a hostage a bit off balance and mistreating him. The soldiers who fetched him had better not have abused him. He was a tool to use against Cobalt Escar, and his freedom would depend on how well his family negotiated, but she had no wish to hurt the fellow. She hoped eventually to release him, and she didn’t want him taking home tales of inhumane