Nan Maura snorted, “Ah, but trailing behind her will be Elymas and his red-robed murderers. We’ll be hauled, along with the babe before the King.”

            “Saar’s bones, Maura, stop talking nonsense. Ranald is my husband and the child is his son. We’re not about to be thrown into the dungeons.” She twisted the pearls into a knot. “Something is wrong, but not betrayal. I trust Mirella.”

            “I trust no one,” Nan Maura’s response was quick. “But let us waste no more time squabbling about trust when the truth is plain. Laveth, if all comes out well after tonight, you must act. The other boy is here, and we must not delay.”

            “How can I take another’s child as my own?” asked the Queen.

            “How can you not?” countered Nan Maura. “Ruse has already been marked as successor to Elymas. This child, this Earth Child, must live.”

            “Nan Maura, the situation can’t be what it seems. Ruse is destined to be High King. He can’t be an Earth Skyll, too!”

            The nurse slowly shook her head. This was old ground between them, ground that had been covered many times, but now that Laveth had started, she couldn’t be stopped. “His foot didn’t thicken until after he was born. That means my son is only a cripple and will only be King.”

            “It makes no difference when the foot turned. He is as he is, and his star has been born.”

            “Elymas called it swamp gas.”

            “Elymas lied.”