Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“Does everyone in the Lirrens know everyone else?” he demanded. “I know you’re all part of these complicated clans, but-”

“He is Ellynor’s cousin. I believe your friend Justin actually met him during his stay.” She gave him a smile, but he thought it was forced. “So, you see, I have fewer secrets every day.”

He didn’t know how to say how honored he was that she had trusted him with a few of those secrets, nonetheless. Instead he smiled and spoke lightly. “I’m guessing you still have a few left.”

Her own face was sad. “Unfortunately, you’re right.”

VALRI’Slast and worst secret was revealed that very afternoon.

Amalie had cleaned up and changed clothes and now sat in the rose parlor looking the very picture of demure royalty. The three of them had settled in their customary chairs before the window, hoping to absorb the sunlight, while Valri went through Amalie’s correspondence. None of the letters were calculated to please Cammon, since they were all from young lords or their fathers, all desirous of seeing Amalie make a connection with their Houses.

“Here’s a young man from Coravann who plans to be in the city next week,” Valri said, scanning a few pages that were accompanied by a long, slim box tied with gold ribbon. “He has sent you a small gift as his envoy-that’s a nice way to put it, don’t you think? Anyway, he hopes you will accept it and possibly wear it when he comes to call.”

“I thought the princess had already entertained a suitor from Coravann,” Cammon said.

“Yes, the marlord’s son,” Valri said. “But other high-ranking nobles will of course come to pay court. It is not always politic for a princess to marry the heir to a House. Sometimes a lesser lord is a better prospect, as he would know.” She glanced at Amalie. “I’m guessing he’s sent you jewelry, don’t you think?”

Amalie was untying the ribbon. “Probably. I hope it’s not hideous, or I won’t want to wear it.”

“Surely something made with lapis lazuli,” Valri said. “Isn’t that the gemstone of Coravann?”

“Or the royal lion,” Amalie guessed.

But they were both wrong. When Amalie opened the box, she revealed a creamy white moonstone nestled on a bed of black silk. A heavy silver chain coiled around it like a protective serpent.

“Oooh, very pretty,” Amalie said, lifting it from the box and holding it up by the clasp. The moonstone, swinging languidly at the end of the chain, held an internal phosphorescence that seemed unaffected by the sunlight-no brighter, no duller. Just the sight of it made Cammon’s skin prickle; he knew it would sear his hand if he touched it.

“Looks like the chain’s just the right length,” Valri observed. “The moonstone will cover your housemark if you put it on.”

If you are truly a mystic, I will discover it now , Cammon thought. For you will scream aloud as soon as it lies against your skin .

Amalie quickly took off the pendant she habitually wore, consisting of ribbons of gold woven together and studded with the gemstones of the Twelve Houses. When she fastened the gift necklace around her neck, the moonstone fell perfectly on the small red mark centered just above her breasts.

She did not cry out, but Cammon did.

He felt as if a giant hand had closed over his body and clawed hard, carelessly stripping away his flesh. He felt as if a malevolent spirit had put its mouth against his and sucked the air from his lungs with one disastrous kiss. He felt as if his mind had been darkened, his eyes had been blinded, all his senses shut down and replaced by pain. Choking and dazed, he toppled to the floor, where he crouched and coughed for breath. Through a roaring in his ears he heard Amalie call his name, heard Valri exclaim, Take it off! Take it off! Felt Amalie’s hand on his shoulder, Valri’s palm against his cheek.

Then, just as abruptly, the world righted itself again. Pain gone, sight clear, hearing perfect.

Cammon glanced around to find Amalie and Valri kneeling on the floor beside him, Amalie still with her hand on his shoulder. She had yanked off the necklace without even bothering to undo the clasp, so now it lay, twisted and broken, halfway across the room where she had thrown it.

“Cammon!” she repeated, her eyes wide with fright. “What happened? Are you all right?”

He stared back at her and felt the world start to wobble again, because he had a terrible suspicion about what had just happened and it struck at the foundations of everything he knew.

“When you wore the moonstone,” he said, his voice sounding a little scraped, as if he had been screaming. “When it touched your skin. It stole my power. It stole my magic, and fed all of it to you.”

Amalie dropped her hand and didn’t say anything. Cammon leveled an accusing stare at Valri.

“ This is what you have been hiding, all this time,” he said. “She’s a mystic.”

“Amalie is-”

He didn’t let her finish. “A mystic. But not just any mystic. She has thieving magic. If there is a goddess who watches over her, it’s the goddess who only knows how to rob from others-the moon goddess, who takes light from the sun.” He pointed across the room. “That’s why she can wear a moonstone and it doesn’t burn her skin. It’s not stealing from her , it’s stealing from any other mystic in the room.”

“I never heard anyone say that moonstones steal a mystic’s power,” Valri said. “Only that they burn a mystic’s skin.”

He pushed himself to his feet, feeling shaky, feeling betrayed, feeling stupid. The others stood when he did, but they just watched him as he took a few clumsy steps away and began pacing. “I don’t think anyone ever realized why the moonstones burned us,” he said, trying to think it through. “And I’ve touched moonstones before and never had a reaction like that.” He gave Amalie one quick, hard look, but she didn’t meet his gaze. Her eyes were downcast and her face was shuttered. “Maybe moonstones themselves don’t have much power. They’re like-like-leeches that bite our skin and try to feed on our energy. But they’re not truly harmful to us unless we touch them in the presence of someone who can use them. Who can reach through them as if they were portals and try to drain us of every drop of magic we possess.”

Amalie spoke to the floor. “I didn’t try to do that. I’ve never held a moonstone before. I didn’t know what would happen.”

“I suppose most people who wear moonstones are just ordinary folks, and they can’t use the jewels against us,” Cammon said. “But someone with thief magic-” He abruptly halted in his pacing. “Coralinda Gisseltess,” he whispered.

“Are you saying she is a mystic?” Valri asked in an acid voice. “I’ve never heard that before.”

“She must be,” he said, resuming his pacing as his agitation increased. Senneth! he called, a single almost witless cry. He needed her to help him sort this out. “ She’s the one who is covered with moonstones. She’s the one who wants them handed out all over Gillengaria. She’s using them to draw away our power. And feed it to herself.” He stumbled against a chair, so blind with sudden knowledge that he couldn’t properly navigate the room. “This changes everything we know about Coralinda Gisseltess.”

Neither of them replied to that, and neither did Senneth, to whom he sent another pleading message. He was halfway around the room now, and he whirled around to face them across the intervening distance.

“But you ,” he said, and he knew that his confusion and his sense of hurt were naked on his face. “Both of you. You have known this awful secret for years now, and you didn’t even tell me, tell us , the people who were there to keep you safe. Don’t you think we should have known? Last summer when we were at every House in Gillengaria? Don’t you think that we might have needed this information in order to protect the princess?”