Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

And then Senneth and Tayse were standing there, and Kirra and Donnal. All seven of them, gathered together again. For a moment, Cammon almost felt whole.

Till he realized there was a part of him that was now missing, and would always be missing, unless Amalie was in the room, too, and that for the rest of his life he would be incomplete, no matter how close he could hold the rest of his friends.

SENNETHhad spent the morning with the king, relaying her story. Cammon waited for her outside the study door, and he followed her the rest of the day. There was a great deal to tell her, though, of course, he didn’t repeat the most important news. Senneth, I’ve become Amalie’s lover . No, he told her how he had watched the battle at Danan Hall through four sets of eyes, how he had felt similar skirmishes unfolding across the kingdom. Indeed, the messengers from Kianlever and Coravann had already arrived bearing the grim news. Slaughter at the Houses, followed immediately by outrage and fear. Eloise Kianlever had sustained heavy losses but reported that some of her most loyal vassals had ridden to her aid.

“And she says she’ll be sending troops to Ghosenhall,” Senneth added. “And part of me thinks, ‘Defend yourself! Even if the royal city falls!’ It’s what Malcolm would tell her. But I’m afraid we’ll need her troops.”

“Don’t leave again,” Cammon said to her.

She gave him a sad smile. “Not to save Brassen Court itself. I am here till the city surrenders or triumphs.”

They spent part of the afternoon with Jerril and some of the shape-shifters Senneth had recruited from Carrebos. Jerril was pleased with their progress and told Senneth three times how they had sniffed out Ellynor even when she was cloaked deep in Lirren magic. “What about the others?” she asked him. “Are they trainable?”

Jerril gave her an affable smile. “Indeed, they have both ability and eagerness. If I had a year-”

“You might have three days,” she interrupted.

“They will be at your disposal whenever you need them.”

Cammon had spent some energy cloaking his own thoughts from Jerril, but that didn’t stop the older mystic from giving him a few curious looks. Jerril was sensitive enough to pick up the gist of the story, Cammon thought-and smart enough not to ask questions in front of Senneth.

“I’m not entirely sure how one deploys a mystic army,” Senneth said.

“I imagine you tell them broadly what you wish they would accomplish, and then let them go,” Jerril replied. “It’s not like you can send them into battle in formation.”

“What do you think about this?” Senneth asked him, and launched into a discussion of strategy.

Cammon stopped paying attention. He heard a door open on the far side of Ghosenhall. Or-not exactly. He felt a brush of wind as if someone had walked past him at a rapid pace. That wasn’t it, either. There was a moment of silence in a crowded room. There was a glint of metal from a weapon smoothly drawn.

There was nothing. No sound, no movement. Just a cool day on a brown field where a few green stalks of grass were pushing their way up through the hard ground.

When Cammon focused on his surroundings again, Jerril was watching him strangely. “What is it?” the other mystic asked.

Cammon shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Jerril’s question had caught Senneth’s attention. “What? Did you sense something?”

“Not exactly. At least-I can’t identify it.”

“Danger?” she asked. “A new assassin come to town? That would make sense, from Halchon’s point of view.”

Cammon spread his hands. “Usually I can sense violent intent, but-did a stranger just ride into Ghosenhall? I don’t know. Something slipped , that’s all I can tell you. Something shifted.”

“Something magical?” Jerril asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“Something anti-magical, perhaps,” Senneth said. “That’s what happens when Halchon Gisseltess touches me. I lose all my power. It’s like he cancels me out. Maybe something like that?”

“Maybe,” Cammon said uncertainly. He looked at Jerril. “Did you feel anything?”

Jerril shook his head. “You’re far stronger than I am. If you can’t read it-”

“But you have more experience than I do! Just concentrate. It seemed like-a door opened. Or closed. Or someone walked by. Somewhere in the city.”

Jerril turned his hands palm upward, then took a deep breath and let his mind expand. Cammon mentally followed that journey, tagging along beside the older mystic, peering around the corners and down the alleys that caught Jerril’s attention. There it was again-a silence that filled with echoes, a scent that dissipated too quickly to be analyzed.

“That,” Cammon whispered. “Did you catch it?”

Jerril nodded and let his mind snap back. Senneth was watching both of them with her gray eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what it is,” Jerril admitted. “I don’t even know if it’s dangerous.” He glanced at Senneth. “If I were a hare, I’d say the shadow of a hawk had passed over the ground.”

“I’m telling Tayse that something alarming has come into the city, but nobody knows what,” she said, already striding off. “We will act as if the city is full of enemies.”

Cammon was left staring at Jerril. “But it might not be.”

Jerril shrugged. “But it will be soon enough.”

WITHINthe hour, the Riders had mobilized. Two each had been assigned to stand over Baryn, Valri, and Amalie; twenty had been dispatched to roam the streets of Ghosenhall, looking for anything untoward. The rest of them roved over the palace grounds like guard dogs let loose, randomly and ceaselessly patrolling.

Naturally, it was impossible for Cammon to creep to Amalie’s room or hope she might sneak up to his when she was being constantly guarded by Coeval and Janni. Janni even spent the night inside Amalie’s room, wide awake, watching at the window.

Everyone was edgy the following morning, even the imperturbable Milo. “Make yourself useful in some fashion,” Milo said when Cammon asked for orders, and then he stalked off.

Cammon found Valri, Amalie, Belinda Brendyn, Justin, and three other Riders preserving an uneasy silence in the rose parlor. Amalie sent him a look of mute appeal when he stepped inside, but Cammon stopped first to speak to Justin.

“Nothing happened? No news?”

Justin shook his head. “Tayse walked the grounds all night and found nothing but your shape-shifters awake. He’s sleeping for a few hours now, but he’ll be up again around noon.”

“Maybe I imagined something. Maybe-I just can’t tell.”

Now Justin gave him that cocky grin. “You saying trouble might be coming is like Donnal saying he can turn himself into a wolf. It’s true. It’s guaranteed.”

“Who’s with Baryn?”

“Tir and Wen.”

“Are you guarding Valri or Amalie?”

“The princess.”

“Maybe we could go outside. Walk around the grounds for a bit.”

Amalie heard that and broke off a low conversation with Belinda to answer. “Oh, yes, please, can we go outside? I think I’ll start screaming if I just sit here any longer, imagining terrors.”

“They’re not imaginary, Majesty,” Justin said.

“The real ones could hardly be worse than the ones in my head.”

Amalie fetched a cloak while Justin eyed Cammon with disapproval. “Where are your weapons?”

“I don’t keep a sword. I always borrow one from the Riders.”

“Well, you need to be armed. All the time. Even in the palace.”

Amalie arrived in time to hear that. “Then let’s head down toward the barracks.”

Hammond led the way, while Justin and Cammon marched on either side of Amalie as they picked their way through the sunshine toward the training yard. It was strange to be so close to the yard and not hear the incessant sound of blades striking and voices shouting. But all the Riders were either on duty or resting after their watches the night before.