"Well, princess, truly I believe I had heard that a few of the Creotin were still somewhere about the castle, left over from when yer grandfather, the noble King Lesyter brought them back, as I am sure ye know, many a year now gone. I had no way of knowing, however, where they were or what they might have been up to, I assure ye," he protested, weakly.

"Ye mayhap have heard, priest," Irayan said, as she raised one foot to the seat of the throne and rested a bronzed, well muscled forearm across her knee, "that on the night me brother died, his servants told of an unusual stench that hung in his room after they found his body lifeless in the courtyard below." She fixed the priest with a withering gaze. "Did ye hear that story?"

"Ahh, nay, princess, I had not heard of that tale," he told her. Sweat was now beading his forehead and his palms were suddenly clammy.

"When yon creature were killed last night, I brought those same servants in to examine the body and they all recognized the foul stink it gave off." She had removed her dagger from its scabbard and was running a slender finger along the thin, double-edged blade. "How does that strike ye, priest?" she asked, quietly.

"I can not say, princess. A clue, mayhap?" He wiped his damp hands against his robe, wishing he could fold back the cowl and get some cool air to his head.

"A clue, aye," she answered.

Rising slowly from the throne, she moved down to step over the head on the floor, stopping just in front of Theobold. She had grown quite a bit, he noted; her eyes were now almost level with his own. They were a pale blue and resembled nothing more than chips of cold, hard ice. He shuddered at her nearness.

"A clue to a murder, priest," she hissed. "Methinks this creature killed Valyrae," she stated, pointing at the head with her dagger. "What say ye to that?"

"Err, a most horrible thought, princess," he answered truthfully. What was horrible about it was that she was so close to the truth. "I would pray it not be so."

Irayan nodded her head and returned to the throne. Theobold sighed in relief.

"So, priest," she said, making herself comfortable. "Do ye know of anyone 'else' who would have wished me dear brother dead?"