Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“No,” she said. The rest of his words had only made her blush, but this last sentence made her speak up. “No. I want you to be exactly who you are.”

He smiled. Maybe that was me, wishing I was somebody else. Someone who had a right to court a princess .

She turned away, blushing still, but a little less forlorn. “I can’t do that,” she said. “I can hear you, but I can’t put thoughts in your head that clearly.”

Whatever else you take away from this night, you should know at least two things , he said. I never, never, never want to hurt you. And I am pretty sure you’re going to break my heart .

Her chin went up at that. “Why would I? And say it out loud.”

He smiled, shrugged, looked away, smiled again. “Because one day pretty soon, you’re going to marry one of those serramar after all.”

That made her happy. His wretchedness and jealousy chased away her own insecurities, and now she was just another pretty girl who’d been kissed by a man she liked more than she wanted to admit. She smiled, ducked her head, failed to keep another blush at bay, and suddenly whirled around and headed for the door. He didn’t follow. She paused with her hand on the frame and gave him one quick look over her shoulder. Her words came to him, shaky and tentative and not entirely intelligible.

Maybe I won’t.

And then she giggled and swept through the door, into the dark corridor.

Cammon stood there a long moment, wondering exactly what she’d meant.

Maybe she wouldn’t marry? Or maybe she wouldn’t break his heart?

HEmet Senneth and Tayse on the outskirts of Ghosenhall two days later. He had borrowed a horse and gone riding toward their small party, grinning at the exasperation Senneth was feeling toward her fresh recruits. Tayse exuded far more patience, though Cammon guessed it hadn’t been an easy trip for any of them. He could pick up a motley impression of their varied companions, full of awe and excitement and the sheer love of change that was inherent in every mystic. The city loomed before them, dazzling with promise. All of them were both eager and uneasy at the thought of stepping through the gates.

“A good trip, I take it,” Cammon greeted them as he pulled his horse around to ride alongside Senneth.

She gave him one quick, irascible look and decided not to answer. Tayse said, “We had a few inconveniences along the way.”

Cammon grinned. Just having them nearby was righting his sense of balance, seriously off-center for the past two days. “Why don’t you introduce me to everybody?”

Senneth arched her eyebrows at him, clearly asking why he had called her back to Ghosenhall so urgently if he was just going to engage in small talk when she arrived. “Do you have a few moments?” she asked pointedly.

He nodded. “Yes, of course. Though I have something I need to tell you.”

“I can take this lot to Jerril’s house,” Tayse offered.

“All right,” Senneth said. She turned in her saddle and began motioning people forward. “This is Baxter, he’s a shape-shifter.”

It took about fifteen minutes to go through the roster. Cammon picked up significant reserves of power from three of the mystics and made it a point to memorize their names. The others had a range of talents that would come in useful, but not as much ability as those three.

“Cammon’s a reader,” Senneth finished up. “So only think kind thoughts when he’s around.”

He grinned. “Something she herself never bothers to do.”

Tayse put up his right hand and motioned the others forward. They were nearly at the city gates now, and they were encountering all sorts of traffic. “Come with me. I’ll take you to the house where you’ll be boarding.”

Cammon and Senneth reined their own horses to a walk as the mystics pulled away. “You got a few really good ones,” he said. “That redheaded girl? She’s strong.”

“Really? She was so quiet on the whole journey that I began to wonder if I should even have brought her along.”

“Oh, I think so.”

“Now, what’s going on here? Why did you call me?”

So many parts to this tale. And the parts that would shock her most he wasn’t even going to share. “We were right. Amalie is a mystic. And so was her mother.”

Senneth took a deep breath. “How did you find out? Did she confide in you?”

“It gets much worse. So stay calm.”

“Just tell me.”

“Some young lord from Coravann is going to come calling next week, and he sent her a gift in advance. A moonstone necklace. She put it on and-”

“And it burned her skin? Bright Mother strike me blind. She’s going to be in all sorts of situations where people wearing moonstones will approach her and take her hand-”

“That’s not what happened,” he said quietly. “It burned me .”

She pulled her horse to a stop. “I don’t understand.”

“You remember that little lioness charm that Kirra carries around with her? I could take it in my hand and I could use it to pour some of my power into her. You remember that?”

Senneth was clearly bewildered. “Yes, but-”

“The moonstone is like that, I think. It can channel power. Or, more truly, it can steal power. Take it from a mystic and give it to whoever is wearing the charm.”

Now she was frowning. “But that can’t be true. I’ve been around plenty of people who were wearing moonstones and they didn’t seem to pull any power from me.”

“Well, you’re different anyway. You can wear a moonstone and it scarcely bothers you. But the real reason those people couldn’t pull power from you, I think, was because they weren’t mystics, too.”

“That makes even less sense! Kirra and Donnal can’t touch a moonstone, let alone use it to-”

Her voice trailed off. She was staring at him. He nodded. “It only works for a certain kind of mystic. A true Daughter of the Pale Mother.”

“Coralinda Gisseltess,” Senneth whispered.

“A thief mystic,” Cammon said. “Just like Amalie.”

“By all the forgotten gods.” She took a moment to absorb the information, turn it over in her mind, seek out the logical implications. She urged her horse forward again and Cammon rode beside her in silence while she worked it out. “Does Coralinda know she’s a mystic? Has this whole persecution been a sham?”

“Only she could tell us that. But I think she’s a sincere fanatic. You remember, I met her when we were in Coravann. She’s awfully powerful, so she could have been shielding, but I didn’t pick up anything from her but blazing righteousness.”

“Well, you didn’t pick up magic, either, so obviously you weren’t reading her entirely right.”

He gave her a hurt look. “It doesn’t read like other kinds of magic. It’s the opposite of magic.”

“Wait a minute,” Senneth said. “When we were in Coravann. You escorted Coralinda across the room. She took your arm. She was dripping with moonstones. And that didn’t bother you? That didn’t burn your skin?”

He shook his head. “No. But when she touched Kirra, Kirra was desperately in pain.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s easier for thief mystics to steal from some than from others. Maybe Amalie’s stronger than Coralinda and can pull power from farther away.” Maybe I am more attuned to Amalie and thus she finds it easier to rifle through the pockets of my soul.

“Oh, I don’t even want to think about what this means!” Senneth groaned. “It was too complicated before!”

He smiled briefly. “And it might be even more complicated.”

She gave him a suspicious look. “Why’s that?”