"She approached me two months ago," Hardin admitted finally, and Jasmine watched thirty banners' worth of careful diplomacy crack open into something far more honest. "After the Council overturned your exile. She said she could help me win back what I'd thrown away, if I was willing to listen to reason instead of pride." He dragged a hand through his hair, something almost boyish and lost crossing his usually composed features. "I wanted to believe her because believing her meant I hadn't lost everything permanently. That's a dangerous thing to want, I've learned. It makes a man very easy to use."

"And you believed her." Jasmine's voice was flat with...