Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

Amalie was silent a moment. “I hope so. I’ve grown attached to him. I would hate to see him returned to the Lirrens, even though that’s where he belongs.”

“He’s not a pet, you know. He can’t be gentled like a horse.”

“I know. Valri told me.”

He glanced at her. “But you’d like to try.”

She shrugged and didn’t answer.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to cross the compound to the garden where the raelynx was imprisoned. From thirty yards away, Cammon could sense its restless, hungry presence. Violence and motion wrapped in a package of exquisite beauty. It was like fire or wind or something elemental. Not just inhuman-bordering on divine.

It was aware of their approach, too, and by the time they made it to the gate it had padded over to press its square nose against the bars. As when he had been here with Valri, Cammon sensed an unexpected emotion at the forefront of the cat’s mind. He strove to identify it while he watched Amalie step up to the gate and circle her fingers around the bars.

Remembrance. Recognition.

“Be careful,” he said. “He can bite your hand off.”

“He won’t,” she said, and stroked her index finger down the red fur of his nose.

Hard to believe that there was anyone in the world that Cammon would find himself urging to caution. “Majesty. Be careful .”

For an answer, she slipped one hand between the rods and scratched under the red chin, extended for just that purpose. With her other hand, she reached through and slowly pulled the tufted ears through her fingers.

Cammon was afraid to move, afraid to startle the creature into sudden brutal movement. “Amalie. Stop. Amalie .”

The raelynx began to purr.

It was a dark rumbling sound, so deep and throaty it might almost be a growl of warning. Except its eyes were closed and its flicking tail was stilled and the emotion emanating from its wild heart was even stronger, and even stranger.

Affection.

The raelynx knew the princess and, in the most primitive fashion, loved her.

“Just how much time did you and Valri spend down here in the past year?” he asked in a low voice.

She gave him a quick flashing smile and pulled her hands back, which filled him with overwhelming relief. “All told, days and days,” she said. “I thought he would remember me.”

And before Cammon truly realized what she was about, she pulled a key from her pocket, opened the locked gate, and stepped inside the garden.

CAMMONwas ossified with horror.

Standing there like one of those grim statues of her forebears, he watched Amalie crouch to the ground before the raelynx and rub her fingers over the brushy fur of its face. Its purr intensified; the ground itself seemed to shake with the sound. The raelynx turned its head to catch Amalie’s wrist between its teeth, and Cammon’s heart exploded, but the cat was playing. It nipped her skin, then ran its rough tongue down the length of her forearm. That hurt; Cammon felt Amalie’s sudden pain spike through her bubbling delight. But she didn’t cry out or jerk away. Instead she bent down and pressed her nose against the cat’s and ruffled the fur on either side of its face.

Cammon couldn’t even speak, but his mind was frantic. Amalie. Amalie. He could kill you with a swipe of his paw .

He had not expected an answer, but it came, wordless but clear, a projection of calm and well-being. She was not afraid. The big animal trusted her, and she trusted it in return. There was nothing to fear.

He stood there, terrified, unmoving, trying to think, trying to determine what to do. Should he call for Senneth? Would she be able to force the raelynx away from the princess, step by snarling step? Should he call for the Riders, send Tayse and Justin racing through the compound with swords uplifted? A raelynx could not be killed by human hands-that was almost axiomatic-but two Riders wielding flashing blades could probably make the creature back away, hissing and shrieking with fury, allowing Amalie time to escape.

Should he push himself through the gate, try to draw attention from Amalie, or would that only excite the beast to sudden violence? He had controlled the raelynx with some success during their trip through Gillengaria last winter. Could he, if the beast suddenly attacked Amalie, regain that control, drive it away from her? Not in time, surely not in time. It would just take a second, a moment of malice, a spurt of rage, and the raelynx could spill Amalie’s blood almost without effort.

He must take control now, he must ease the animal away. Slowly, with infinite mental stealth, he crept up on the creature’s mind, like a hunter tracking the most devious prey. He would throw the noose of his will around the raelynx’s consciousness, tighten it like a choke collar-be prepared for the inevitable furious fight-and hold on. Hold on. He was close, he was almost there, he could slip past those dark and deadly eyes-

But Amalie was there before him. Inside the creature’s head. Strolling beside it down a springtime path, an insubstantial leash looped carelessly around one hand.

Not even Senneth had been able to hold the cat so completely in thrall.

“Amalie,” he said out loud, his voice strangled, “what have you done?”

She didn’t answer, but then, he imagined she was expending all her energy merely to keep the cat quiescent. How had she learned this trick? Through Valri, obviously, but how had she learned it so well? If Valri had the same degree of power over the raelynx, she certainly hadn’t demonstrated it the other day. Amalie had an ability that superseded even Senneth’s, even the queen’s.

The cat had chosen to give her mastery. There was no other explanation. It loved her, and it had submitted.

Cammon hadn’t thought such a thing was possible.

Slowly he dropped to his knees on the other side of the gate. Amalie was sitting on the ground now, clearly settled in for a while. The cat butted its red head against her shoulder, demanding more attention. Amalie smiled and began running her hands down its rough fur, picking out burrs and stray bits of bark. “How long has he been like this?” Cammon asked, quietly now, no longer afraid. “How did this happen?”

She glanced at him, half smiling, sensing his change in mood. “I don’t know how it happened. One day he didn’t care much for me-he would pace and growl and let out this furious scream whenever I came by-”

“I’ve heard that scream,” he said.

“And then one day he liked me. But it was weeks before he allowed me to touch him. And months before I felt safe to come inside. But the first time I did, it was like this. He lay on the ground before me and started this thunderous purring. And we have trusted each other ever since.” She gave Cammon a serious look. “I’m not sure he can go back to the Lirrens now. He’s been spoiled-he might not be able to survive. If he doesn’t fear me, perhaps he won’t fear hunters and other men who wish to harm him. He could be trapped or killed.”

“He doesn’t seem to have lost any of his basic hatred for other people,” Cammon said dryly. “It’s only you he trusts.”

“It seems like he’s not afraid of you .”

“Maybe not, but he’d eat me if he could.”

She laughed softly. “Oh, I couldn’t let him do that.”

“Does Valri know that you can do this?” he asked.

She shook her head. “She would be almost as afraid as you are. I can’t tell you how many times she’s warned me-just like you did!-that a raelynx can’t be tamed.”

“She’s probably right. If he wasn’t inside that gate-”