"Tsk, tsk," Erland muttered, shaking his head in mock sympathy. "Perhaps Lissa should raise the topic of Diplomatic Immunity at the Conclave."

"That, my friend, would be inadvisable. She is new and many will be waiting, as vultures do when an ox is dying."

"I know. At times, I feel the need to cover myself in oil, just to slip through the tripe and garbage of Wylend''s court. Lissa will have to contend with five hundred times that when she goes to Conclave."

"I fear that no amount of diplomatic oil will keep her from the shock that is coming. She will be snubbed and mistreated by many, I fear. Not only because she is a new monarch, but because there is a price on her head. Most will be placing as much distance between that and themselves as they can get. It is never wise to befriend one who is marked by the Assassin''s Guild. That is usually a death waiting to happen."

Death has come to Le-Ath Veronis. A would-be assassin, aiming at Lissa, kills someone close to her instead. A price has been placed on Lissa''s head by Black Mist, an assassin''s guild who have been paid by a reassembled Solar Red. Throw in a spin-off religion, betrayal, a misguided kidnapping and the Five-Year Conclave for the Reth Alliance, and you have the seeds of war.