Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

Kirra sighed. “Yes, I suppose we’ll sleep on the hearth like a couple of hounds. Easiest all around.”

“I’ll bring you an old blanket,” Senneth said, straight-faced. “Put out a bowl of water. Would you like a bone?”

Donnal barked and wagged his tail. Kirra sighed again. “Tomorrow I’m sleeping at the palace, as befits my station in life,” she said. “And I will never sleep on the ground or the floor again.”

Cammon yawned and climbed to his feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” he said. “When I’m done with the princess.” That evoked a storm of hoots and derision, and he felt himself flushing. “I meant-in the morning-we’re supposed to accompany her on an outing. I’ll see you when that’s finished.”

“Don’t neglect your duties just for us,” Kirra said.

He grinned and went out into the bitter cold air. He was shaking his head, but smiling at the same time. Kirra and Donnal back, Justin on the way. Cammon was almost completely happy.

KIRRAspent the next day with Senneth-Cammon could feel their merriment all afternoon as they browsed the shops of Ghosenhall-but before nightfall she presented herself at the palace and claimed her usual room. Naturally, as a high-ranking serramarra, she was invited to join the formal dinner that night, and she sat next to Delt Helven and spent the entire meal charming him.

She also, Cammon could tell, spent the whole meal trying hard not to look at Romar Brendyn.

She had fallen in love with Romar Brendyn last summer as the regent joined them on their tour of the prominent Houses. He was married, of course; his wife, Belinda, even now sat a few chairs over from him, round with her first pregnancy. Kirra had used magic to make the regent forget that he had cared for her in return, but she had not had recourse to any such spells to heal her own heart. Donnal had always adored her, and she had finally allowed herself to love him back, serf’s son though he was; but there was still a great ache inside her when she was anywhere near Romar Brendyn. Cammon could feel it through the entire meal, her clenched core of sadness, alleviated not at all by her light flirtations with the Helven lord and the Brassenthwaite man who sat on her other side.

Romar Brendyn was deep in conversations of his own, but from time to time the sound of Kirra’s laugh could catch his attention so hard that his head would turn and he would pause to look at her a moment before completing whatever sentence he had been uttering. A mixed, inchoate mess of emotions seized the regent every time he glanced at the golden serramarra. Cammon could sort them out much more easily than the regent could himself. Basic male appreciation for a lovely woman-admiration for her quick intelligence-an inexplicable wistfulness-a sudden surge of confusion-and an abrupt realization that he had a wife, he loved his wife, his wife was carrying their child. Romar’s eyes invariably would go from Kirra’s face to Belinda’s, and he would smile, and some of his bewilderment would fade.

This sequence of blocked memories and remembered responsibilities occurred perhaps ten times during the course of the meal. By the end of it, Cammon was not surprised that Kirra was feeling a little grim underneath her bright exterior.

No one else at the table was having to work so hard to have an enjoyable time. Delt Helven was still nervous, Amalie still gracious, the other visitors happy just to be in the room with royalty. By most standards, a successful meal.

“Let’s withdraw to the salon, shall we?” Baryn said as the dinner came to a close. “Perhaps another glass of wine and a little conversation before we end the evening.”

Chairs scraped on the floor as people stood, talking quietly to their neighbors. Belinda exited on the king’s arm, Amalie accompanied by Delt Helven. Kirra had been detained when a young Merrenstow woman asked her a question, and so she wasn’t able to escape when the regent approached her.

“Serra Kirra,” Romar greeted her. He was almost as fair as Kirra, with dark gold hair tied back from his strongly modeled face. “It has been some time since you have last graced us with your presence.”

The Merrenstow woman curtseyed and left; Kirra was left face-to-face with her former lover. Cammon knew he was supposed to follow the others into the adjoining salon, but he lingered in the hallway just outside the dining room, listening. He could feel Kirra’s sudden panic.

It didn’t show. “Lord Romar!” she exclaimed. “I wondered if you might be here. Have you abandoned your estates entirely so that you might stay close to Amalie?”

“I’m afraid I have,” he said. “I travel back once a month or so, but I am much in demand here. In the past I had left my wife to care for the land while I was absent, but, as you see, she is in a delicate state, and I do not like to have her there without me.”

“Yes, I had heard you were expecting a child. You must be so pleased.”

“Excited and afraid,” he amended.

“I think all new fathers feel the same,” she said.

“There is news from Danalustrous, I hear,” he said. “Your sister is to marry Senneth’s brother Will. An excellent match by any measure.”

“Yes, and I am delighted for her, but oh!-the wedding preparations! I think I shall be driven mad. You will know how frantic we have been when I tell you that I came to Ghosenhall for a little peace, for it is never quiet in Ghosenhall.”

As she spoke, Cammon could pick up a small spiral of actual pain rising through her bones. She was digging her fingernails into her palms, perhaps, or holding her hands behind her back and pinching her flesh. Yet her voice retained its easy lilt, and her face no doubt still showed its warm smile.

“How long do you plan to stay?” Romar asked. “Will you be joining us every night?”

She laughed. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but I cannot commit to endless dinners! I am very restless, you know, and not very proper. I am sure I will be pursuing much more entertaining activities that do not revolve around the social life in the palace.”

Cammon could hear the clink of plates and silver being piled together as servants started to clear the table. Kirra, he thought, might be edging for the door, but Romar Brendyn was not yet inclined to leave. Cammon could sense the regent’s puzzlement- Why am I standing here exchanging inanities with this woman? Yet I cannot bring myself to walk out the door -and his complete focus on Kirra.

“And how have you been, serra?” the regent asked in a low voice. “Safe, I hope? I remember some of our adventures from last summer, when it seemed you endangered yourself every other day.”

It was as if Kirra had been knifed in the heart. Cammon felt her pain that clearly. Yet her voice was steady still. “I believe you were the one who was endangered, lord. I happened to be nearby once or twice when you needed rescuing.”

Romar sounded amused. “Perhaps. Although I think our recollections differ.”

“Oh,” she said, “I believe that is often the case.”

Cammon could stand it no longer. He reentered the room and bowed to them both, then turned his attention to Kirra. “Serra,” he said. “Serra Senneth has sent me to fetch you. Are you free?”

“Senneth is as bad as you are,” the regent remarked. “She tries to avoid meals in the king’s dining room as often as she can.”

Cammon offered Kirra his arm, and her hand closed spasmodically over it. Yet she managed to respond lightly to Romar Brendyn. “Still, I had better go see what she wants,” she said. “I’m so glad we had a chance to catch up tonight.”

Again, a moment’s confusion passed over the regent’s face, and then he bowed. “Yes. Very glad. I hope to see you again while you are in residence at the palace.” And he bowed again and finally left the room.