**BOOK II OF THE FOUR REALMS SERIES**
When war came for Azura, Fara of Calate lost everything. Her husband, her new home, her freedom. When her captor - the formidable commander of the Leoth army - saves her life, she begins to see the enemy as som...
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'So she is alive...?'
'Despite what you may think, Corryn, I am not in the habit of killing queens or princesses.'
'Yes, and neither are you in the habit of saving them...'
Shame lit him. 'As I have told you, the death of Arielle has weighed heavy on me since I first learned of it. It is partly this which drives me to see Azura returned from Torrik's grip.'
Corryn didn't look convinced. 'Partly? So what is the other part? What is it you truly seek to achieve?' Theodan sat back slightly, eyebrows pinching together. 'What benefit is it to you or Leoth to put Calate's Princess on this throne? Because the Gods know you would not be doing it without one.'
He considered this, for the first time perhaps. What did Fara as queen of Azura mean to him? For surely it meant that one thing at least was certain: he could not be with her. Could not remain by her side as she learned how to rule. To play queenmaker was to make impossible the idea of a life beside her.
Was his role truly to be High Visier of Leoth, a messenger of his God, while she ruled as Queen of Azura? The notion left him empty, hopeless.
'According to blood rule she is the heir,' he said. 'She is what is right for this realm, and I have many wrongs to right...'
His old friend was silent for some moments, watching him.
'And you simply hope the king of Calate will abandon his pact with Zybar and back his sister's claim instead?'
Theodan nodded. 'He thinks her dead. When he learns she lives and is heir to Azura's throne he will back her claim - I am certain of it.' He also had a final, bargaining, boon to offer the king but that did not need to be discussed yet.
'Without Leoth's army, you have nothing.'
'I did not need an entire army to take Azura, and I shall not need one to take it back. Torrik has removed a large number of ships and men to Calate - for it seems he does not trust his new son in marriage either - and left but a small garrison behind to hold the city. Between us, we have enough skill and knowledge of this land to best them. By the time he learns of the ambush it will be too late. The city will be ours in a day.' He had told Fara she would need an army to take Azura, but not if he took it for her.
A light of anticipation lit in Corryn's black eyes; a glimmer of hope. The idea excited the warrior in Corryn Theodan saw, scented. The thought of Zybar blood dripping from his axe in vengeance set his blood aflame though he hid it well.
'By the time Torrik realises he has lost the city, Calate's forces will be here to help us keep it...' he mused aloud.
Theodan nodded.
'And what of Leoth?' Corryn asked, focused again. 'Who commands her army? Who prepares it for this war with Calate?'
'It is my hope that it will not come to war. Zybar will need to rally her forces here to retake Azura from us, Calate will choose the most imminent threat, and this time Azura will have three armies to fight her cause and Torrik will barely make it from the sand.'
