"I knew your father?"
"Well enough, I think."
"I've had a hundred wenches—and known some of their fathers, too. You can't expect me to...."
"Not this wench, Valkyr!" the girl exploded furiously.
The tone carried such command that Kieron involuntarily stepped back, but still keeping the girl's hands pinned to her sides.
"If you had spoken so on Kaidor, I'd have had the skin stripped from your back, outworld savage!" she cried.
Kaidor! Kieron felt the blood drain away from his face. This, then, was ... Alys.
"Ha! So you remember now! Kaidor you can recall, but you have forgotten me! Kieron, you always were a beast!"
Kieron felt a smile spreading across his face. It was good to smile again. And it was good to know that Alys was ... safe.
"Highness...."