Reader and Raelynx (Twelve Houses)

by Sharon Shinn

  “I will be happy to do both,” he replied.

  Valri waited till they were out of the room and their voices had faded down the hall. “What a waste of time!” she exclaimed. “In love with another girl! And Darryn would be the perfect match for her in so many ways. He’s not a firstborn child, and he probably will not become marlord, but a wedding to him would immeasurably strengthen our ties to Rappengrass. And he’s such a delightful man! Sophisticated and handsome and at ease in every situation. He would make an excellent husband and an excellent king. And he’s to throw himself away on this nameless peasant girl!”

  “I think you’re more upset than Amalie is,” Cammon said.

  “I have a better idea of what’s at stake than she does,” was the grim reply.

  As he gathered the cards and followed Valri out into the corridor, Cammon found himself glad that the so-perfect Darryn Rappengrass was unavailable to marry the princess. She had to marry someone, of course—he understood that—but he did not mind if it took her another year to find a husband. Or even longer. He would be happy to watch over her for however long the search lasted.

  HE had forgotten just how strong-willed the princess could be—and that she might think she had a reason to be angry with him. So he was unprepared for the look of burning reproach she gave him when she entered the dining room that night on the arm of Darryn Rappengrass. He felt his eyes widen and he almost blurted out “What’s wrong?” before he remembered that he was supposed to stand immobile and expressionless as any footman. Instead he raised his eyebrows in an expression of wounded innocence, but Amalie just flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned to say something to Darryn. Valri was settling herself in her own seat at the foot of the table and so fortunately missed this interchange.

  Ah. Valri. She had forbidden him to join the princess in her parlor this morning, and Amalie apparently was angry that he had not attended her there. Since just the day before he had promised true friendship and unending camaraderie.

  Hard to explain this in sentences of simple words that he could convey in silence.

  He didn’t even try for the first half hour of the meal, which was always very busy, as servants brought in dishes and diners initiated conversations with their tablemates. Kirra and Senneth were both in attendance tonight, Kirra sitting on the other side of Darryn Rappengrass and flirting madly. That would be the two you would expect to pair off, if you were going by compatibility and personality, Cammon thought. Both of them noble, born to Houses that were absolutely loyal to the throne—both of them so attractive and appealing that simply watching them together made everyone else smile. Yet Kirra had given her heart to the shape-shifter Donnal, and Darryn Rappengrass loved a nameless girl who seemed to possess nothing except resourcefulness and a will to live.

  Senneth sat between the king and Belinda Brendyn and managed to make her way through dinner with only the occasional grimace. Still, he could tell she was both bored and eager to be done with the meal. He sent her mental images of a fire sweeping through the kitchen and racing down the hall toward this very gathering, forcing them all to flee the room. It would, of course, be a fire that she coaxed into life. He knew she received the message, because she pursed her lips together very solemnly to keep from laughing and would not look at him for the rest of the evening.

  When the diners had settled into their meals and the pace was a little more relaxed, Cammon sent his first observation to Amalie. It’s not my fault. Valri told me to stay away.

  She gave no sign that she had heard him. She didn’t flick her eyes in his direction; she didn’t draw her attention away from Darryn Rappengrass. It was possible that Valri had cloaked her in magic so deep that he would not be able to get through to her, but he didn’t think that was it. She was so angry she was pretending not to listen.

  Valri came to my room last night. She told me I was never to be alone with you again.

  Still no response from the princess.

  What can I do? She’s the queen. And she was truly upset. I told her I would never do anything to harm you, but that didn’t reassure her.

  Amalie lifted her hand and tugged on her right earring as if it had begun to pinch. Cammon had to think a moment to remember what the signal meant. Oh, yes, she had said she would touch her left ear if she wanted to be entertained, her right ear if she wanted to be left alone.

  Well, all right, I’ll be quiet, but first tell me you’re not angry with me.

  Amalie leaned over Darryn to address Kirra. “But weren’t you in Nocklyn when that happened?”

  “Yes! With Mayva! But Darryn heard about it somehow and then the next time I was in Rappengrass I found he had told his mother, too. I was never so embarrassed to face Ariane!”

  Take a sip of your wine if you’re not angry with me, Cammon thought.

  Amalie toyed with her knife and fork, then picked up a roll and tore off a small piece with her fingers. “I thought you were one of the marlady’s favorites.”

  “Well, she is now, because she saved my niece’s life,” said Darryn. “But there was a time when my mother wasn’t so sure about Kirra.”

  If you don’t forgive me, I’m just going to keep talking to you, Cammon said. I know you can hear me. How can I be your friend if you won’t understand that I’m doing the best I can?

  “Your mother sent me the prettiest present,” Amalie said to Darryn. “Pieces of sea glass.”

  “Oh, I love that,” Kirra said. “I had a pendant made from blue sea glass when I was a little girl, and I wore it all time. It fell just so—covered my housemark—it’s probably still in my jewelry box back home.”

  “Let me show you what she gave me,” Amalie said, and motioned Cammon over.

  He tried to keep an impassive expression on his face as he walked stiffly to her side, but he was aware that Valri, Senneth, and Kirra had all gone on alert at the summons. Kirra and Senneth looked merely speculative, but Valri was displeased.

  He leaned over and Amalie whispered in his ear. “Stop it! Be quiet! I’ll have you sent from the room!”

  He could not answer aloud, but he nodded as if she had given him an order he was about to carry out. I can stand anywhere in the palace and make you hear me. It won’t do any good to banish me to the kitchen.

  Her voice was utterly composed. “I’ve asked Cammon to fetch Ariane’s gift from my parlor,” she told the others. “He knows right where it is.”

  Kirra and Senneth exchanged glances at that; Valri’s expression looked even more thunderous. Cammon bowed and solemnly marched through the door.

  He kept up a running commentary for the entire time it took him to traverse the hallways, climb the stairs, and go rummaging through her bookshelf, which had been rearranged since the time she showed him her treasures. What if Darryn Rappengrass was an ambitious serramar with designs on your father’s throne? What if you sent me from the room and he decided to try to cut your father’s throat? Don’t you realize that’s why I’m supposed to stay in the dining hall when you’re entertaining company? You’re angry at me, but why put yourself in danger? Didn’t you see the look on Senneth’s face? She was thinking, “While Cammon’s out of the room, I’ll have to be paying the utmost attention.” I suppose we can trust ser Darryn, but I don’t think you should be so careless.

  Box in hand, he returned to the dining hall and presented it to Amalie with a small flourish. She didn’t look at him or thank him, but merely opened the hidden door and held the container toword Kirra. “Don’t you like these? I was wondering if I should have them made into a bracelet.”

  You know I’ll keep talking all night if you don’t say you’re not angry with me, he said as he took his position against the wall once more. Ask Senneth. I can talk long after everyone else wants me to shut up. Just sip from your wine to tell me you forgive me.

  One of the servants was circling the table with a bottle in his hand. “Will you have more wine, Majesty?” he murmured to Amalie.

  She lifted her glas
s and drained what was already in it. “Yes,” she said, holding it out to him. “I think I will.”

  Cammon had to work hard to contain his smile.

  It was easier when he realized that Valri was still watching him, a brooding expression on her dainty face.

  Easier still when he realized he had caught Senneth’s attention, and she didn’t look any happier than the queen.

  CHAPTER

  15

  WHEN Senneth returned to the cottage after dinner, she was in such a black humor that Tayse looked up in surprise. He was at ease in a big chair before the fire, playing a casual game of cards with Justin and Donnal, but he picked up her mood instantly.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she snapped and stalked into the bedroom to change out of her formal dress. She heard the rumble of low voices as the three men tried to guess what had put her in a temper, but none of them seemed alarmed. Well, they knew no danger threatened or Cammon would have summoned them long before this.

  Cammon.

  Senneth wrenched her dress off and tossed it to the bed, the rational alternative to throwing it on the floor and trampling it. Back into her comfortable trousers, her oversize shirt. Run a hand through her hair to disturb the careful styling Kirra had achieved for her earlier in the evening. Herself again, and a little calmer.

  She stepped back into the main room, pulled up a chair, and said, “Deal me in.”

  Justin shuffled and expertly handed out cards. “Sevens wild.”

  She glanced around the room. “Where’s Ellynor?”

  Justin picked up his cards and started arranging them. “Sleeping. She was out all night helping one of the soldier’s wives deliver a baby.”

  “Oh, she doesn’t have to do that! There are plenty of physicians in Ghosenhall—mystic and ordinary.”

  “She likes to do it. I think she finds it comforting—a chance to do something she’s good at. Something familiar in an unfamiliar place.”

  “Plenty of other things she’s good at,” Donnal observed. “As she’s been proving to us the past few days.”

  “Has Cammon improved in his ability to sense her approach?” Tayse asked.

  Donnal grinned. “Not as much as he’d like. But more than Ellynor thought he would.”

  “I suppose that’s the definition of success,” Tayse said.

  Justin seemed pleased at Ellynor’s ability. “Cammon doesn’t seem to think so.”

  Senneth slapped a discard onto the table. “But then, Cammon has all sorts of other tricks and skills that keep him happy enough.”

  There was a short, comprehensive silence. “You’re mad at Cammon?” Justin asked at last. “That’s what this is all about?”

  Tayse laid his cards down. “Tell us,” he said in his grave fashion.

  “Dinner tonight. I’m not sure, but I think Amalie and Cammon were having an argument.”

  They all looked at her as if she was speaking in an incomprehensible Sovenfeld dialect.

  “Silently, I mean. Remember, he told us the other day that he has the ability to put words in her head.”

  “We know this,” Donnal said. “Why are you angry?”

  Just then the door opened and Kirra drifted in. “I love Darryn Rappengrass,” she said. “He spent twenty minutes telling me about this girl he’s so besotted with. Ariane had told me she wasn’t even Thirteenth House, but it’s even better than that. Senneth, she’s a poacher’s daughter! Isn’t that wonderful? It makes you and me look positively respectable despite our own unconventional choices.”

  Donnal was grinning broadly, but Tayse showed only a faint smile. “I doubt even ser Darryn’s irresponsible behavior can make you seem respectable,” Tayse said.

  Kirra stuck her tongue out at him and pulled up a chair between Donnal and Justin. “What are we playing? Can I get in the game?”

  “We seem to have stopped playing while Senneth explains why she’s so angry at Cammon,” Donnal said.

  “Yes, what was that all about tonight?” Kirra said, picking up Donnal’s cards and sorting through them. “Amalie sending Cammon off to get something from her study—I mean, it was a little peculiar.”

  “Senneth thinks they were having a silent argument,” Tayse said.

  That did catch Kirra’s attention. Her fine eyebrows arched high over her blue eyes. “What were they arguing about?”

  “That’s not the point,” Senneth muttered, her bad mood fully returned.

  “We’re still trying to understand the point,” Justin told Kirra. “It’s not obvious to the rest of us.”

  “The point is, a servant doesn’t argue with his master or his mistress,” Senneth exclaimed. “Would you argue with Baryn? If he gave you an order, you might say, ‘Liege, I think that would be a dreadful mistake,’ and you would explain why, but if he disagreed with you, you would follow his command anyway. He wouldn’t sulk because you had offended him, and you wouldn’t stand there trying to defend yourself—in a room full of nobles, might I add!—that is not the relationship you have with him. And that should not be the relationship Cammon has—or thinks he has—with Amalie.”

  “Well, but, Cammon,” Kirra said, as if that explained everything. “He treats everybody like a best friend. It’s endearing.”

  Tayse, as always, cut straight through to the heart of the matter. “You think he’s crossed the line with her? He’s too familiar?”

  “I think she’s a lonely, isolated girl and he’s an outgoing, happy young man, and neither of them realizes they cannot, they cannot be friends. And it’s not my place to say anything to the princess, but I can damn well tell Cammon to back off.”

  Kirra’s mouth had dropped open. “You think Cammon might fall in love with her? You think she might fall in love with Cammon?”

  “Surely we have enough other disasters to contend with for that to happen,” Senneth said. But she felt glum. Why should this particular disaster hold off? None of the others had.

  She was annoyed to see Kirra and Justin exchange glances and then dissolve into laughter. “You were right! You were right!” Kirra cried. “Oh, but even you couldn’t have predicted this!”

  “I cannot imagine what possible amusement you can find in this situation,” Senneth said in a cold voice.

  Justin tried to stop laughing, but his face was still alight with mirth. “Last year. Kirra and I were remarking on the fact that the six of us seemed to make extraordinarily bad choices when we fell in love,” he said. “Picking people we didn’t have much chance of ending up with in a happy life. And I said Cammon would outdo all of us.”

  “But the princess! That I would never have anticipated!” Kirra said.

  “And this is all premature speculation,” Tayse said practically. “He may feel some affection for her, and she for him, but I believe Amalie is very aware of her role and not likely to compromise herself in any foolish fashion.”

  “Well, she won’t compromise herself with Cammon, because I’m going to strangle him,” Senneth said.

  Kirra looked around. “Where is he, anyway? He always comes down here after dinner.”

  “I think he’s avoiding me,” Senneth said. “I made a tactical error.”

  Justin grinned again. “You gave him a look, didn’t you? One look, and he decided he would be better off spending the evening up in his room.”

  “Talk to him tomorrow,” Tayse said. “Perhaps you’ll be calmer then.”

  Senneth rubbed the back of her head, where a small ache was beginning to form. She knew better—both great rage and sweeping acts of magic could leave her with debilitating headaches. Magic performed while she was in the grip of fury could produce headaches so severe she was laid low for more than a day. Tayse had the knack of massaging away the agony, but it was stupid to feel so angry over such a trifle and call up a headache to begin with. “Perhaps I will,” she said.

  Donnal swept all the cards toward him. “Maybe we should start over,” he said.

  They
played for a few moments in companionable silence. “I learned something interesting at dinner tonight,” Kirra said presently.

  “Some intimate secret of Darryn’s?” Senneth inquired. “Because you flirted with him so desperately that I can’t imagine you had time to talk to anybody else. I was starting to think Amalie would be jealous—since he came here to see her, after all.”

  Kirra blinked those blue eyes at her. “Are you just going to go around the table and berate each of us, one by one?” she asked. “In that case, I want to stick around and hear what you say to Tayse. You usually think he’s so perfect.”

  Justin snorted and buried his face in his cards. Tayse tried with a little more success to hide his amusement, but Donnal just laughed out loud. Against her will, Senneth felt her own face lighten in a smile.

  “No. No, that will be my last ill-tempered remark of the evening. Though you were awfully cozy with Darryn,” she couldn’t help adding.

  “He’s always been my favorite flirt,” Kirra said, “but even more so now that I know he’s in love with another girl. I can say the most outrageous things and know there’s no chance he’ll take me seriously. It’s very freeing.”

  “I shudder to think what you might find outrageous,” Tayse said, which caused Justin to laugh again.

  “But tell us, do, what you learned tonight while you were trading compliments with Darryn Rappengrass,” Senneth said.

  “He’s leaving for Rappen Manor in a couple of days, and if we want to go to Carrebos, he’ll travel most of the distance with us.”

  Tayse rearranged his hand and threw away two cards. “I didn’t know you’d decided to go to Carrebos so soon.”

  “We hadn’t,” Senneth said slowly, thinking it over. “But I like the idea of traveling with Darryn. People will see our parties together on the road. It’s never a bad idea to reinforce the idea that there is great affection between Rappengrass and the crown.”

  “I think he’s willing to wait a few days but wants to be on the road before the week’s out,” Kirra said. “And I can’t stay much longer, either. If you don’t go soon, you’ll have to go without me.”