Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“Incorrigible,” Senneth murmured to Cammon on her way out the door. “Any news on Justin?”

“Tomorrow morning, I think. Depending on where he spends the night.”

“Come down early to help us greet him.”

“I will.”

Kirra had a similar plan, it turned out, for she and Donnal showed up at Senneth’s cottage a couple hours later. “Feed us, house us,” Kirra said, pushing past Senneth through the door. Donnal at least sent her an apologetic glance as he stepped inside.

“Why don’t you camp outside, like some of the Riders are doing?” Senneth said, leaving the door open suggestively. “See? Tayse and Wen and Coeval and a few others have stationed themselves all around the barracks and halfway to the gate. They have pots and pans and all sorts of noisy items with which to greet our young lovers. Why don’t you stay outside with them?”

“Too cold and nasty,” Kirra said. “It’s going to rain.”

“We’ll sleep on the floor again,” Donnal offered.

Kirra yawned. “ You can. If Tayse is outside, I’m sleeping in the bed with Senneth.”

“Not that you were invited.”

“True friends never turn you out, no matter how inconvenient your arrival,” Kirra said, wandering to the kitchen. “Heat some water for me, could you? I want something warm to drink.”

Senneth grumbled some more, but in truth she had expected them and was a little surprised that Cammon hadn’t showed up as well. She poured a mug of cold water, set it to boiling with the touch of her hand, and pointed to the crock containing tea leaves. “But I’m going to bed,” she said. “I want to be up early enough to greet them.”

They all settled in quickly, though Senneth briefly found it strange to have Kirra’s light form beside her instead of Tayse’s darker, heavier one. She and Kirra had shared rooms and beds across half of Gillengaria, and there had been a time Senneth never expected to take a lover, let alone a husband, so it should not seem so foreign not to have him next to her; and yet it was. She and Tayse had not slept apart since their wedding. They had scarcely spent a day apart since they met. Even when he hated her, as he had at first, he had watched over her.

Not that she was in danger, here in the well-guarded confines of the king’s palace, two mystics in her house and almost fifty Riders within call. Not that Tayse could not be at her side in a minute if she should have need of him. Still. The fact that he was not sleeping close enough for her to touch him with her hand made it hard, at first, for her to sleep at all.

Dawn came, pink-and-white as a porcelain doll, and the three of them rose and dressed with practiced efficiency. Through the windows, Senneth could see frost laying a white-gold gilding over the hard earth and the winter vegetation. Tayse and Wen were already astir, striding down from the general direction of the palace, their hands full of copper pots and big wooden spoons. Their breath showed misty in the cold air. A half dozen other Riders had congregated around the small cottage, either leaning against the walls or making themselves comfortable on the ground. They all looked as if they had rested well and been up for hours.

“Everyone’s on the move,” Senneth said, letting the curtain fall. “Let’s go see if there’s any news.”

She almost screamed as she opened the door, for Cammon stood just outside, hand raised to knock. “You’ve been up for an hour,” he complained. “What’s taking you so long?”

Senneth brushed by him and spoke over her shoulder to Kirra and Donnal, laughing behind her. “Someone turn into a wild animal and kill him for me.”

They intersected with Tayse while Wen went off to join the others. “Cold night?” Kirra asked him brightly. “Nice and warm inside your little cabin.”

He gave her a lurking half-smile. “A Rider never notices the weather,” he said.

“Well, a mystic does.” Kirra rubbed her hands briskly over her upper arms and then frowned at Cammon. “So? When are they going to get here?”

Senneth thought Cammon looked the slightest bit uneasy-the expression Cammon always wore when he was trying to keep silent about something. “Well-”

Just then the door to the cottage opened, and Justin stepped outside.

He was dressed in a loose shirt and a pair of breeches that he might have pulled on as he rolled out of bed, and his sandy hair was tousled with sleep. He stretched his arms overhead, manufacturing a big yawn, and then gave a mock start as he noticed the welcoming party. “Oh! Company! I don’t know that we’re actually ready to receive guests yet, but-”

That was all the further he got. Kirra shrieked, and the whole contingent descended on him in a fury of noise and shouting. The Riders shoved each other aside, one after the other, to beat him on the back or take him in a rough embrace. Kirra actually kissed him and then pushed past him to enter the cottage, calling, “Ellynor? Are you in here?”

Senneth was left staring at Cammon. Who stared back, a stupid grin on his face.

“You told him,” she said in an ominous voice.

He nodded happily. “Had to. I told you he was coming. Only fair I told him you were waiting.”

“You told him!” she shouted, and pounced on him, grabbing him in a headlock and then wrestling him to the ground. He yelped and flailed around, trying to get free, but Cammon was no fighter, and she landed a few hard blows just to teach him a lesson. “I ought to roast your heart in your chest!”

“Ow! Ow! Donnal! Help! Tayse! Help !”

Tayse actually came to his rescue, putting a hand under Senneth’s arm and pulling them both to their feet. She kept her arm locked around Cammon’s throat, though, and another around his waist, but now the grip was more affectionate than punishing. He left off trying to get free and stood tamely in her arms.

Tayse watched Cammon with his eyebrows lifted. “So? What information did you give him? And how?”

“I met them outside the palace gates yesterday afternoon. He knew to wait for me but he didn’t know why.” He grinned and elbowed Senneth in the ribs, so she briefly squeezed his throat again. When he could speak once more, he said, “He’d guessed, though.”

Tayse glanced at the cabin, where Riders were spilling in and out of the door, and a great deal of commotion was being created on the copper-bottomed drums. “And they managed to elude us how? Through Lirren magic?”

Senneth nodded. “That would be my guess. Ellynor snuck them inside the gate-and past a whole gauntlet of Riders. Both of them.”

He met her eyes, a certain disquiet in his own. “I find this extremely disturbing.”

“Oh, but you can trust Ellynor!” Cammon exclaimed.

Senneth released him and gave him a little shove. “You half-wit, what about her brothers and her cousins and the members of feuding clans?” she demanded. “What about Lirrenfolk who might be siding with Halchon Gisseltess? What if they decide to come sneaking into the palace grounds at night? You can’t sense Ellynor, you’ve said that before. Riders can’t see them or hear them. Not Riders guarding the gate, not Riders stationed along a pathway where they know one of them is going to come. I find it disturbing myself.”

Cammon looked horrified, but Tayse’s dark eyes glittered. “And yet, if this is a magic we can harness, I find it very valuable indeed,” he said.

“Well,” Senneth said. “They’ve ruined our surprise and scared us to death, but let’s go say hello to them anyway.”

“Yes,” said Tayse, turning to lead the way. “It will be good to have Justin back.”

ITwas maybe two hours before all of the other Riders cleared out. Senneth was not much for playing hostess, but Kirra had hissed at her and grabbed her arm, dragging her to the small kitchen, where Ellynor was standing in some bemusement. The Lirren girl was delicate and pretty, with exceedingly long black hair that just now was piled on top of her head in a hasty knot. She was scarcely more dressed than Justin, though he’d obviously given her time to wash her face and pull on a gown before he went out to taunt the welcoming party.