Mwhaha and here come the Luna of Rogues references. I reckon most of you are from that book, so keep an eye out for those. Ready to meet Rhodric's big sister, everyone?

The Queen of the Free Isle was guarded by no less than eight men. Two of them were Moon Guard, the rest hired Llewellyn fighters. She was resting in her chambers, according to the first steward we asked. I got the impression that it wasn't a rare occurrence these days.

We were still a hundred paces behind when patrol eighty-eight reached the entrance to the Queen's chambers, but I could hear every word that was said. They barred the door to them. A burly captain announced, "The Queen is not to be disturbed."

"We've brought the new recruits for an introduction," Zara said.

"Go and introduce them to the King for all I care. We have strict orders—the Queen is not to be disturbed," the captain insisted.

"Not even by her beloved son?" Kai asked with a broad smile, inserting himself strategically between Zara and me as we came to a halt.

The captain swore, turned, and then wrapped Kai in a swift hug. "Good to see you, boy. And you're a guard now, are you? Nice going. Of course you can go in."

"This is Sav, Lanath. She'll be coming with me."

"Right, okay. That's fine too. Nice to meet you, Sav."

"You too. I'm starting to think you might be the trainer Kai talks so much about," I commented.

"Indeed I am," he said. Lanath turned to wink at Kai. "She seems like a nice girl. Why on earth is she friends with you?"

Kai grinned. "Wish I knew."

Lanath slapped him on the back, roaring with laughter. "Well, your mother will be waiting. I'll catch up with you later."

He waved a hand and the men moved out of our way. Even the Moon Guards obeyed the command. Impressive. Zara narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at the exchange. Especially when the captain turned to embrace Ben next.

I trailed after Kai through the doors and into a surprisingly modest bedchamber. The Llewellyn crest was everywhere—embroidered on sheets and carved into the doors themselves. A huge double bed took up most of the floor space. It was big enough that my entire patrol could have slept on it comfortably. The furniture itself was luxurious, but the decor and belongings scattered around could have belonged to any family.

"Mother." Kai went to sit on the edge of the bed. I remained hovering uncertainly in the doorway as a pale and painfully thin woman took his hand and smiled at him. She had his eyes, but that was all. There was little and less of the Queen in Kai's face. The prince had taken after his Davengard sire.

"My boy," she said quietly. I needed my wolf hearing to understand the words. All of a sudden, I was back in my grandparent's house, watching as they faded away to a shadow of themselves. I couldn't even imagine how Kai felt. His mother was far too young to be dying.

"I brought someone to meet you. This is Savannah Fairborne," Kai introduced me. He didn't offer any other explanation for my presence, but that bothered me more than the Queen. I seemed to be the only one in the dark about why I was here.

"Hello, Sav." My queen and regent turned to address me. I didn't miss that she knew the nickname. How much had Kai told her about me already?

"Your Majesty," I replied, inclining my head with far more respect than I had given the king.

"Nonsense. You're Kai's friend, and right now, I'm just his mother. So you call me Gwen," she insisted.

I found myself gravitating closer to the bed. Some barrier had been broken, and my muscles relaxed under the Moon Guard's uniform. I wasn't a soldier reporting to her leader anymore, just a teenage girl meeting her friend's parent.

"How are you?" Kai asked her.

"You know I hate that question. A hundred times a day, I get asked it. How do you think I am, Kai? Dying doesn't generally promote good health." Kai raised an eyebrow, looking like he'd heard this all before and was still waiting for his answer. The Queen sighed. "Worse than some days, better than others. Is that what you want to hear?"

"No," he said. "What I want to hear is that you're well again. But today I'll settle for a pain rating."

I wasn't sure what that was. Gwen answered with no shortage of teeth grinding, "Fine. I'm a well-enough-to-smack-you-if-you-don't-stop-worrying-about-me out of ten."

Kai frowned. "That's not a number."

"No, it's a threat. And a good one if I do say so myself, so shut up and let me suffer in silence." She turned her gaze to me, smiling faintly. "Oh, yes, you're a Fairborne if I ever saw one. You remind me of Seb."

Kai said carefully, "He was Sav's cousin, remember."

"More like a brother," I amended.

The Queen nodded. "It was a shame, what happened to him. He didn't deserve it, but ... well, he was a threat. I should have seen it coming."

Did she know something? A threat? To whom, exactly? Kai's face was carefully guarded, and I began to wonder if he knew something I didn't.

She went on, "I had a brother, too, and I lost him, too. He ran for the mainland, took the rest of my family with him, turned rogue and built his own kingdom."

I was pretty sure Rhodric Llewellyn had been declared dead for all intents and purposes, but I didn't question it. Kai had brought me into the room because he trusted me to keep my mouth shut about whatever I heard, and I fully intended to honour that.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he could," she replied. "He came to visit, you know. Just the once, after his mate died. Brought two sons with him.  You got on well with the younger one, Kai — he was about your age. Rhys, I think."

"My cousin," Kai said by way of explanation, "and very, very rogue."

The Queen noticed his tone. "That's not a bad thing, you know. He's happy, and that's a rare thing among our family. El, Jeff, Rhodric and I — we all lost our mates. For your sake, I hope that curse will die with me."

"So do I," Kai said. I might have imagined it, but I could have sworn his eyes flickered to me as he spoke. I suddenly felt quite uncomfortable and tried to change the subject.

"And you haven't seen Rhodric since?"

"My uncle is a hard man to find," Kai explained to me.

"He has far too many enemies to stand in the open, Kai," she said sternly. "But if you find him and ask nicely, he might just take the regency for you."

"I'll ask him," Kai promised. "But I won't need a regent."

She chose to ignore the second part, probably because she knew she wouldn't live until his eighteenth birthday.

There was a moment of silence as the two royals exchanged a look that held an entire conversation. Kai asked, "Sav, could you give us a minute?"

"Of course. It was nice to meet you, Gwen," I said.

Some small part of me was aware there was a good chance I might never see the queen again. If the rumours were true, she had days at the very most. I left the room quickly and quietly through the main door. Outside, the two patrols waited. Ben had struck up a conversation with Captain Lanath, but Becky and Alex were lounging against the stone wall. I joined them. We were only waiting a few minutes until I heard raised voices from inside.

"No. I'm not going to run off on patrol and leave you to die here alone."

"Don't take that tone with me Kaeden. Last moments matter as little as first moments. It's what comes in between that you need to remember. I'm not planning to make any dramatic speeches in my dying hours, so you're not really going to miss much."

"I won't leave you with him."

"Yes, you will, dammit, or you'll be murdered before my body is cold."

Their voices fell quieter. I wouldn't use my wolf hearing to intrude on their conversation, so I started a discussion with Alex about the finer points of law enforcement. It wouldn't be long before we were out on patrol, where knowing protocol was essential.

Every now and then, Zara would input a sentence or two, advising us how to best stop a drunken brawl or interrupt an illegal hunt. I found myself reciting details which Seb had imparted to me years ago, perfectly preserved in an eleven-year-old's memory.

It took half an hour for Kai to finish. When he emerged, Zara led the way to the gardens outside, where the little prince and princess were playing. Although the prince tried his best to hide it, his eyes were redder than normal with unspent tears. I imagined I would cry as well, if I had to say goodbye to my mother for the last time.

Leah and Logan Rochester were having a rowdy game of chase in the flowerbeds. They were seven and four, both with their father's sandy hair. As soon as they saw Kai though, they abandoned their game to run over, squealing in delight. He picked one up in each arm for a hug.

"Kai, Kai, Kai! Kai's back," Logan shouted in delight. I had no idea he got on so well with his half-siblings. We gave them a minute to talk amongst themselves, before Kai put down the prince and princess and led them over.

"Logan, Leah, come and meet my patrol. You already know Ben, but this is Becky, Alex and Sav," he introduced us.

Leah smiled nicely and said, "It's nice to meet you all," in her best court voice. Little Logan on the other hand, wiped his muddy hands on his trousers and gaped at us nervously.

"Say hi," Kai coaxed him.

"Hi," Logan repeated. He kept a firm fold of his big brother's hand. Of course Kai would be good with kids. He was good at everything.

Screw manners. These were little kids, they didn't deserve to suffer the restrictions of life as a royal. I crouched in front of Logan and smiled at him, despite the full force of Zara's disapproval on my exposed back. "Hiya there."

He remained silent for a moment, making me wonder if I terrified him that much. Then, very quietly, "Are you friends with Kai?"

"Yes, I am." We're a little beyond friends.

"And you're a Moon Guard?" He stared at me through wide, hazel eyes. Llewellyn eyes, even if there wasn't much else of his mother in his face.

I nodded and when the boy beamed at me, I knew it would be alright. "That means you catch bad guys. I wanna be a Moon Guard when I grow up too."

"I'm sure you would be very good at it. What about you, Leah? What do you want to be?"

Leah frowned. "Father says I have to marry when I'm old enough. I don't really have a choice about what I want to be."

She wasn't so easily won over. At seven, the princess was mature far beyond her years. I supposed that was what being royalty did for you. A short childhood and an endless list of duties, never being able to breathe without someone watching you. I would never have been able to stand it.

"Your father isn't going to be king," Kai told her. "He can't make you get married, so don't listen to him."

"No, you're going to be king," Logan shouted, delighted about it. He wasn't quite so delighted about the next part. "Mammy said she's very ill but it's okay because you'll look after us."

How could anyone want to put these children on the throne? They were kids, for God's sake. Not pawns to be used for power.

"Mammy's right," Kai said. "Now we have to get back to catching the bad guys. Be good while I'm gone, okay?"

"We will," they promised. Our two patrols didn't stay long after that. After a brief tour of the palace and grounds, we returned to the ferry. Sat deep within the bowel of the boat, I got plenty of time to have Kai to myself.

"There will be a power struggle, you know. I mean, after the Queen..." I didn't need to finish the thought. "Wyatt Rochester doesn't seem the type to give in without a fight."

"He's not," Kai snorted. "He will use Leah and Logan against me and arm the full force of his house to put them on the throne. And there's not a damn thing I can do to stop him stealing my birthright."

I frowned. "But you have both Llewellyn and Davengard on your side."

"For all the good it will do me. I won't fight his fire with more fire, not when my siblings might get burnt."

"And your rogue uncle? If he has enough fighters, it might be enough of a deterrent that it never comes to violence—"  

"He did have enough fighters." The look Kai gave me was full of pain. "My mother's memory is not what it used to be. She's forgotten, but we had word from the mainland months ago. Rhodric vanished, and some teenage girl took his place. A girl who calls herself Skye Llewellyn, but she's no blood of mine. One of my cousins is dead, the other hasn't been heard from. She probably overthrew my family and killed them all."

"One girl?" I asked. "I thought the Llewellyns were supposed to be ... I don't know, harder to kill than that."

"We should be, yes, but I don't see what else could have happened." Kai waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever it was, I don't think that's an option anymore."

"So which options do we have?"

Kai grimaced. "Not many, as far as deterrents go. The Alpha I was fostered with might be willing to send help, if he wasn't dead and his successor currently fighting a war. Lanath has two dozen Llewellyn guardsmen and the same number of Davengard soldiers. The Shadowcats and Moon Guard are both of uncertain loyalty."

"What's the plan then?" I hadn't noticed Ben was listening until he spoke up. Becky and Alex were paying attention too, looking to their patrol leader for guidance.

"I suppose I could try to win over the Moon Guard. That was half the idea behind joining up in the first place. Even so, it might not be enough," Kai said. "Maybe it would be better to let him have his way. Wyatt might be cruel, but he would make a decent enough regent until Leah came of age. The only one he really wants to kill is me."

Becky growled. "That's the plan? Martyr yourself? That's a shit plan, even by our standards."

"Do you have a better one?"

"Yes," she said. "I say screw peace."

He looked up sharply. "Oh, and I suppose you want to start a war?"

Becky smiled, a sinister look in her eyes. "No, Kaeden Davengard. I want to win a war."

Alex piped up, "The Queen married again after the King died to keep the peace. How's that worked out so far?"

"Crappily," Kai admitted. "Look, I don't even want a crown. I never wanted one. But I was born for this—I have the right bloodline. That's the only reason most people are ever royalty. Leah and Logan have the same qualification, so why am I a better choice than them?"

"That you even have to ask that question, answers it," Ben laughed. "Besides, practically anyone would make a better regent than Wyatt Rochester. He would kill you first, slowly and painfully. Any family you have left, they would be next. Then he would move on to all of us, just because we knew you. To be honest, I would give the man a year before he destroys the monarchy and starts another war."

"Ben's right," I agreed. "You would make the best king, Kai."