title: Secret Child, Royal Scandal (The Sherdana Royals)
author:  Cat Schield 
description: <span><b>ROYAL HEIRS REQUIRED, Book 1 Sherdana Royalty</b></span>
zlib_text: [Back](0671578553__1.htm) | [Next](0671578553__3.htm)
  
  # What Price Dreams?
  
  ### David Weber
  
  ##  
  ONE
  
  ###
  
  "Do you think we'll see any treecats?"
  
  Adrienne Michelle Aoriana Elizabeth Winton, Crown Princess of the Star Kingdom
  of Manticore, sounded considerably younger than her twenty-one T-years as she
  looked out the window and asked the question over her shoulder.
  
  Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Tudev smiled at her wistfulness and wondered if she
  even knew she'd revealed it. He suspected she did, and a part of him felt
  sadly flattered by the probability. It was not something she would have let
  anyone else hear, but the King's Own Regiment, supported by the Palace Guard
  Service, provided the royal family's bodyguards, and the lieutenant colonel
  had commanded the Heir's security force since she turned eleven. He knew she
  regarded him as a sort of favored uncle. It was a relationship he treasured,
  and not simplyor even primarilybecause he was ambitious to rise to the very
  top of his chosen