"You doubt them?"
"Nay—yet Lakkon is a name of honor, and a pledge is a pledge until broken indeed."
"And should it be so broken?" Croft leaned a trifle toward him from the hips.
"Aphur would refuse you nothing," Prince Lakkon said.
Croft laughed as he sprang into his seat. "Forget not those words, Prince Lakkon," he flung back as he started the car.
He drove to Himyra in a rage. Before him floated a vision of Naia's purple eyes gone black with hurt misunderstanding, of her quivering crimson lips. But his rage was as much with himself as with Lakkon, to tell the truth. He had been indiscreet after promising discretion. He had gone to the mountains too often. He had let eye and voice speak too plainly those things in his soul. Lakkon had been blind not to see what was ripening under his nose. And Lakkon was a man of honor according to his code.
He drove to the palace, found Gaya, and told her the whole thing from beginning to end.
"You mean that the maiden loves you?" she cried.
"Aye," Croft said.