Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“I keep wondering. If the moonstones feed the energy of other mystics to Coralinda, why does she want them dead? That just eliminates her source of power.”

“But if she doesn’t realize she’s a mystic, she doesn’t understand what she’s doing to herself,” Senneth pointed out.

“I guess that could be the reason.”

“You have a different theory.”

“Well. She hates us so much. She believes so passionately that she’s right to hate us. I have to assume that every time a mystic dies, she feels an intense sense of satisfaction-a validation of what she’s done. A sense of well-being…”

He let his voice trail off as he watched understanding come to her face. Understanding and horror. “You think she feeds off death? That’s what boosts her power?”

“I think it’s possible. She might feed off of torture as well.”

“Bright Mother burn me,” Senneth said. “I think I’m going to be sick. And this is the power that Amalie carries? This dreadful kind of magic?”

“Don’t say that!” he cried.

Senneth looked surprised. “Well, I wouldn’t. Not to her. But-”

“She had that very thought herself, and she was so upset, but it’s not the same! Magic responds to the will of the man-Jerril taught me that, and I have to guess he taught you, too. Coralinda has chosen to twist and misuse her power, but Amalie won’t. Amalie will make something good and useful out of it. But not if people-especially other mystics, who ought to know better!-treat her like she’s corrupt and evil!”

Senneth’s eyes had widened at this impassioned defense. “Of course I don’t believe Amalie is evil. But to learn that the heir to the realm is another Daughter of the Pale Mother-Cammon, I have to admit that gives me pause. That gives me nightmares. ”

“The Pale Mother is not evil, either,” he said stiffly.

“She rejoices when she sees mystics burned to death!”

He shook his head. “No. Coralinda does. Not the goddess.”

“You can’t possibly know that! You might be a powerful reader, but I don’t think you can scan the minds of the gods. ”

“Ask Ellynor,” he said. “She knows more of the Silver Lady than any of us do. Except-well, you can’t ask Ellynor because Valri made me swear to tell no one about Amalie.”

“I’m glad you didn’t keep that promise!”

“I told her there was no way I could try to keep the secret from you. And that you wouldn’t keep it from Tayse, but that we would tell no one else. At least right now.”

Senneth sighed and slumped in her saddle. “And I thought the trip was the hard part. I thought life would get easier once I was back in Ghosenhall. Though I have bad news of my own.”

“I could tell something went wrong,” he said, “but I couldn’t tell what.”

“Old mystic from Carrebos. Couldn’t travel with us but he came in to show off his magic. He has some control over water, it appears. He said the ocean revealed to him that there is a fleet of ships gathering off the coast of Fortunalt. Sounded like warships, full of foreign soldiers.”

Cammon felt alarm register separately in his skull, his stomach, his elbows, and his knees. “Come to war on Gillengaria?”

“That’s what it looks like. Imported by our rebel southern Houses.”

“Then-why haven’t they landed and come to attack us?”

“Tayse says they’re waiting for spring.” She held a hand up as if to test for reprieve in the air. “And it’s not that far off. A month, maybe less, and this hard weather will be over.”

Cammon swallowed against a lump of fear. “Senneth-what do we do?”

She gave him a grim smile. “We prepare for war.”

OVERNIGHTthe city was transformed. Soldiers who had been in training in the more rural districts outside of Ghosenhall were brought in and deployed in a ring all around the city. Reserve soldiers, housed for months on property in Merrenstow and Storian, were sent for, and accommodations for them were hastily built on the outskirts of town. Shopkeepers and tavern owners suddenly had to truncate their hours of operation; residents were ordered to adhere to an early curfew. The number of night watchmen tripled, but they roamed streets that were practically empty.

“I can’t go to Danalustrous,” Senneth said to the king. “My brother will just have to get married without me. I got married without him, after all.”

“Go,” Baryn said. He looked oddly relaxed for a man who believed his home could be attacked at any minute. “When our customs and civilities are most under siege is the time we most need to observe them.”

“Sire, I’m not sure I can persuade Tayse to stay behind. He knows his first duty is to you, but he-”

“I am the one who commanded him to protect you, and he obeys me very well,” the king said, his eyes crinkling up with laughter. “I require you to defend the realm, and therefore I require him to keep you safe. There is no conflict here.”

“I am not comfortable leaving you behind without either of us in your arsenal.”

“I believe that my safety can be reasonably assured by forty-nine Riders, several thousand soldiers, and this highly unusual troop of mystics you have assembled for my protection.”

That made her groan. “Oh, those mystics from Carrebos! Two of the shape-shifters have proved to be quite talented, and they prowl around the palace grounds all day, sniffing for trouble, but the rest of them are a very mixed blessing. Jerril and Areel have rented another house and turned it into a dormitory of sorts, and I believe Jerril is actually enjoying himself, but training a mystic is like trying to train a raelynx. It pretty much does what it wants to, no matter what you tell it-and it’s dangerous even when you think it’s tame.”

“I quite like having them here. Amalie tells me she has met them all. She has become most interested in magic, you know.”

He looked at her over the tops of his spectacles, and she was forced to laugh. “You know I have learned Amalie’s secret.”

“And you are very shocked.”

“Yes.”

He picked up a quill pen in his right hand and lightly brushed the feathers across the back of his left hand. “Pella’s magic was a true gift to her,” he said quietly. “It enabled her to analyze any situation, fit into any group, put anyone at ease. It was as if she could almost instantly become anyone else for just as long as she needed to. It made her very popular-everyone loved her.”

“I think Amalie’s gift is a little different. But since I’m not sure even she knows the extent of it yet, it is hard to gauge.”

“I have spent her whole life concealing it from others,” the king said. “This does not seem to be the time to announce to the world that she is a mystic.”

“No! But I would want your permission to tell a select few-those I trust the most-those of us you trusted to guard her last summer.”

“I will tell Tayse he may inform the Riders. I assume you wish to give the news to Kirra.”

“And Donnal. And Ellynor. No one else.”

He regarded her a moment, his face grown sad. “And do you think even such a small group will be able to keep the secret?”

“The mystics won’t tell. Only you can gauge the loyalty of the other Riders, but Tayse and Justin are safe.”

He sighed. “Any one of the fifty would defend me to the death if I suddenly claimed to have sorcerous blood. They are bound to me-their loyalty is more important to them than their own lives. But they are not so bound to Amalie. Their oaths were not made to her. They will defend her because she is mine, and as such, she represents the throne. If they know that she is a mystic, I do not know if that fealty will extend to her after I am dead.”