Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“I want to open it and let him out. Just to see.”

“ Majesty . No, no, no, don’t even think of it.”

She gave him a quick frowning look. “You called me Amalie a moment before.”

“I was trying to keep you from getting killed,” he said. “When you’re not in mortal danger, I think I can remember to use your title.”

“I like it when you call me by name.”

“Well, Valri doesn’t.”

“Well, Valri doesn’t have to know.”

“Then, Amalie, can I just say it would be a very bad idea to let the raelynx out? If you can’t control it, and you can’t get it back inside the gate, it could spend the next thirty years slowly killing off all the inhabitants of the palace. Not even the Riders would be able to hunt it. It would survive here till it died a natural death. No one would come to visit for fear of being eaten. Your father would have to abandon the palace and take up residence somewhere else. The Riders would have nowhere to train, and they’d grow fat and sloppy, and pretty soon no one would be afraid of them. And then Halchon Gisseltess would come sweeping in from the south, and take over the whole city, and you’d be forced to marry one of his ugly cousins, and see what you’d have done? Just because you wanted to set the raelynx free?”

His tone had gotten lighter as his threat had gotten sillier, and she was laughing by the time he was done. “I suppose you’re right,” she said meekly. “He must stay locked up. But I wish he could come keep me company in the palace. I’d like to have him sleeping at my feet at night. I’d be safe then, don’t you think? No one would dare try to break in and murder me if the raelynx was watching over me.”

He had to agree. But. “That’s one of the reasons I’m there,” he said. “To make sure trouble doesn’t come creeping up on you by night.”

She gave the raelynx a final pat on the head, came to her feet, and slipped outside the gate. Cammon had to admit to a profound feeling of relief when she keyed the lock, and the raelynx was still in the enclosure. “Yes,” she said, giving him a sunny smile, “I do feel safe knowing you’re nearby. Maybe I should keep you in a walled garden so you can’t ever leave.”

The image this conjured up was so vivid that for a moment he couldn’t think of how to answer. He glanced down at her, his mouth open as if he would speak, but no words came out. The truth was, he thought, feeling humble, feeling stupid, he didn’t think he would mind any more than the raelynx did being kept in perpetual service to the princess. “Men generally don’t make very good pets,” he said at last, and she went off in a peal of laughter.

“Didn’t you say that about the raelynx?” she said.

He managed a grin. “And it’s still true, whatever you may think.”

They didn’t speak for most of the walk back to the palace, being engaged in dodging the attention of servants and soldiers and random couriers off to deliver messages. They made it inside unseen and crept carefully down the passageways toward Amalie’s favorite parlor. Valri was inside and sick with worry. It was the first time Cammon had ever been able to pick up her presence without a visual cue, and that underscored for him how alarmed she was to know Amalie had spent the day with him unattended.

“I don’t think I should go in,” he said in a low voice. “Valri’s here, and I don’t think she’s happy with me.”

Amalie nodded but put a hand on his arm to stop him from turning away. “I was only joking, you know,” she said.

“About what?”

“I would never try to keep you here against your will. You or anybody. I wouldn’t want to.”

That brought his grin back, and he attempted to copy the sweeping bow that Justin and Tayse were so good at, right fist to his left shoulder in a gesture of utter fealty. “Majesty,” he whispered, “I live to serve.”

HEdidn’t want to tell the story to anybody but Senneth, so he waited until very late before heading down to the Riders’ cottages after dinner. She was standing outside, seeming not at all uncomfortable with the late hour, the bitter cold, or the unconventional summons.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It’s freezing. Can we go inside?”

“Tayse is awake. If you don’t mind if he hears-”

He shook his head, shoved his hands in his pockets, and started walking. She fell in step beside him, and almost instantly he started to feel warmer. He felt his shoulders unclench a little as the chill was chased away by her burning magic.

“So tell me what’s happened that has you running out in the middle of the night to confide in me,” she said. She sounded quite cheerful; clearly she had not had the kind of day he had. “I might know the secret already, though, for Justin came back from his audience with the king to tell us that Valri has confessed to being Lirren-born.”

“That’s not what I came to tell you, but it was a pretty interesting moment,” Cammon said. “What did Justin say? Was he shocked?”

“Apparently not. Relieved, actually. Ellynor had told him while they were in the Lirrens, but then made him promise not to tell anyone. Justin said he’d never had to keep a secret from Tayse before and wasn’t sure how long he could do it.”

“Were you surprised?”

She waggled her head from side to side to show uncertainty. “Yes and no. Well, there’s always been something strange about Valri! And I’ll confess that once or twice I wondered if she was from the Lirrens, but it just seemed so improbable that I put the thought aside. Still, it explains so much about her, down to the fact that you’ve never been able to read her. I confess, to some extent, I was relieved, too. This is the kind of secret I don’t mind so much. I have no quarrel with the Lirrenfolk.” Still walking, she glanced over at him. “But if that’s not what you wanted to tell me, what is it?”

“Well, Valri’s part of the story. Remember how, when we were traveling last year, Valri never let Amalie out her sight?”

“Hard to forget that.”

“It’s still that way. Every time I’m in the room with Amalie, Valri’s there. She told me once that she’s protecting Amalie. But, of course, we thought we were the ones protecting her.”

“So Valri’s protecting Amalie from something other than physical threats.”

He nodded. “I think Valri’s afraid someone will see into Amalie’s mind,” he said. “Uncover a secret.”

“What kind of secret?”

“I don’t know.” He could guess, though, and it terrified him.

“And only someone like you would be able to uncover such a thing.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe once we learn what the secret is, we’ll realize why Valri thought it would be obvious to everyone if she didn’t conceal it.”

“Well, unless you’ve made some grand discovery today-” Senneth said.

“She can control the raelynx.”

“Who? Valri? I’m not altogether surprised. I imagine Ellynor can, too.”

“Not Valri,” he said. “Amalie can handle the raelynx.”

That stopped Senneth in her tracks. “She told you that?”

“I saw her do it. We went to see him today.”

“Are you sure you weren’t controlling it? Not even meaning to?”

“Positive.”

She stared at him in the dark. Her pale blond hair drifted around her face like a cap of snow. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t have Lirren blood, does she? Her mother was from Merrenstow, right?”

“I’m sure Romar Brendyn could recite you their ancestry for the past sixteen generations. I can’t imagine there was a Lirren bastard anywhere in the line.”