Then as Lakkon finished speaking she cried out: "No!" in swift instinctive protest, and lifted herself upon her pink bent knees to poise so an instant before she flung herself once more upon her father's breast. "No!" she cried again, clinging to him. "No, no! Not that--not that! Father, unsay it! Give me not to that beast!" "Hush!" Prince Lakkon stayed her. "Chythron will hear your outcry." "Chythron!" she exclaimed. "Not Chythron but all Aphur--all Tamarizia shall hear my outcry against what Jadgor intends--every woman in the nation shall give thanks to Azil and Ga, that she stands not in my place." "Naia." Her father spoke in a voice not wholly steady. "Would you profane a shrine, sully a temple, defile a sacred thing?" she flared. "Is a virgin's body a thing to be bartered and sold in Aphur? Does my uncle regard me as a shameless creature who sells herself for a price? Azil and his holy mother would veil their faces from such marriage rites." "Think not I wish it," her father said. "Yet can I not deny the truth of Jadgor's words, or that the union of the houses of the two states would work for Tamarizia's great good." Naia was panting. "Tamarizia's?" she faltered now. "Aye, did you not comprehend what I said concerning the welfare of our nation?" Lakkon asked. She shook her head. "I--I think horror must have dulled my understanding," she said. "Explain to me again." Long since they had left the city gates and were following a well-built road which led off toward those mountains where Croft had first stood and viewed the Palosian landscape in the light of this waning day. As he reached the end of his second exposition of the facts, Prince Lakkon turned and suddenly swept aside the purple curtain which draped the side of the coach. He flung out an arm and pointed straight to where the dull red walls of Himyra still shone in the afternoon rays. "Behold Himyra, jewel on the breast of Aphur," he cried. "There she lies. Think you I would have given ear to Jadgor's plans save for that? Think you I would send you flesh of my loins to such a union save for the good of unborn souls to come? Think you were it not for Himyra, Aphur, Tamarizia herself, I would have bowed my head to the words of Aphur's king? Nay. If so, you are wrong. But for Tamarizia and that glory and honor which are hers and have been for a thousand cycles of our sun, a true son of the nation must sink all thoughts of self, must live, if by living he can serve, or should it serve better, must--die!" * * * * *