Cammon couldn’t even speak, but his mind was frantic. Amalie. Amalie. He could kill you with a swipe of his paw.
He had not expected an answer, but it came, wordless but clear, a projection of calm and well-being. She was not afraid. The big animal trusted her, and she trusted it in return. There was nothing to fear.
He stood there, terrified, unmoving, trying to think, trying to determine what to do. Should he call for Senneth? Would she be able to force the raelynx away from the princess, step by snarling step? Should he call for the Riders, send Tayse and Justin racing through the compound with swords uplifted? A raelynx could not be killed by human hands-that was almost axiomatic-but two Riders wielding flashing blades could probably make the creature back away, hissing and shrieking with fury, allowing Amalie time to escape.
Should he push himself through the gate, try to draw attention from Amalie, or would that only excite the beast to sudden violence? He had controlled the raelynx with some success during their trip through Gillengaria last winter. Could he, if the beast suddenly attacked Amalie, regain that control, drive it away from her? Not in time, surely not in time. It would just take a second, a moment of malice, a spurt of rage, and the raelynx could spill Amalie’s blood almost without effort.
He must take control now, he must ease the animal away. Slowly, with infinite mental stealth, he crept up on the creature’s mind, like a hunter tracking the most devious prey. He would throw the noose of his will around the raelynx’s consciousness, tighten it like a choke collar-be prepared for the inevitable furious fight-and hold on. Hold on. He was close, he was almost there, he could slip past those dark and deadly eyes-
But Amalie was there before him. Inside the creature’s head. Strolling beside it down a springtime path, an insubstantial leash looped carelessly around one hand.
Not even Senneth had been able to hold the cat so completely in thrall.
“Amalie,” he said out loud, his voice strangled, “what have you done?”
She didn’t answer, but then, he imagined she was expending all her energy merely to keep the cat quiescent. How had she learned this trick? Through Valri, obviously, but how had she learned it so well? If Valri had the same degree of power over the raelynx, she certainly hadn’t demonstrated it the other day. Amalie had an ability that superseded even Senneth’s, even the queen’s.
The cat had chosen to give her mastery. There was no other explanation. It loved her, and it had submitted.
Cammon hadn’t thought such a thing was possible.
Slowly he dropped to his knees on the other side of the gate. Amalie was sitting on the ground now, clearly settled in for a while. The cat butted its red head against her shoulder, demanding more attention. Amalie smiled and began running her hands down its rough fur, picking out burrs and stray bits of bark. “How long has he been like this?” Cammon asked, quietly now, no longer afraid. “How did this happen?”
She glanced at him, half smiling, sensing his change in mood. “I don’t know how it happened. One day he didn’t care much for me-he would pace and growl and let out this furious scream whenever I came by-”
“I’ve heard that scream,” he said.
“And then one day he liked me. But it was weeks before he allowed me to touch him. And months before I felt safe to come inside. But the first time I did, it was like this. He lay on the ground before me and started this thunderous purring. And we have trusted each other ever since.” She gave Cammon a serious look. “I’m not sure he can go back to the Lirrens now. He’s been spoiled-he might not be able to survive. If he doesn’t fear me, perhaps he won’t fear hunters and other men who wish to harm him. He could be trapped or killed.”
“He doesn’t seem to have lost any of his basic hatred for other people,” Cammon said dryly. “It’s only you he trusts.”
“It seems like he’s not afraid of you.”
“Maybe not, but he’d eat me if he could.”
She laughed softly. “Oh, I couldn’t let him do that.”
“Does Valri know that you can do this?” he asked.
She shook her head. “She would be almost as afraid as you are. I can’t tell you how many times she’s warned me-just like you did!-that a raelynx can’t be tamed.”
“She’s probably right. If he wasn’t inside that gate-”
“I want to open it and let him out. Just to see.”
“Majesty. No, no, no, don’t even think of it.”
She gave him a quick frowning look. “You called me Amalie a moment before.”
“I was trying to keep you from getting killed,” he said. “When you’re not in mortal danger, I think I can remember to use your title.”
“I like it when you call me by name.”
“Well, Valri doesn’t.”
“Well, Valri doesn’t have to know.”
“Then, Amalie, can I just say it would be a very bad idea to let the raelynx out? If you can’t control it, and you can’t get it back inside the gate, it could spend the next thirty years slowly killing off all the inhabitants of the palace. Not even the Riders would be able to hunt it. It would survive here till it died a natural death. No one would come to visit for fear of being eaten. Your father would have to abandon the palace and take up residence somewhere else. The Riders would have nowhere to train, and they’d grow fat and sloppy, and pretty soon no one would be afraid of them. And then Halchon Gisseltess would come sweeping in from the south, and take over the whole city, and you’d be forced to marry one of his ugly cousins, and see what you’d have done? Just because you wanted to set the raelynx free?”
His tone had gotten lighter as his threat had gotten sillier, and she was laughing by the time he was done. “I suppose you’re right,” she said meekly. “He must stay locked up. But I wish he could come keep me company in the palace. I’d like to have him sleeping at my feet at night. I’d be safe then, don’t you think? No one would dare try to break in and murder me if the raelynx was watching over me.”
He had to agree. But. “That’s one of the reasons I’m there,” he said. “To make sure trouble doesn’t come creeping up on you by night.”
She gave the raelynx a final pat on the head, came to her feet, and slipped outside the gate. Cammon had to admit to a profound feeling of relief when she keyed the lock, and the raelynx was still in the enclosure. “Yes,” she said, giving him a sunny smile, “I do feel safe knowing you’re nearby. Maybe I should keep you in a walled garden so you can’t ever leave.”
The image this conjured up was so vivid that for a moment he couldn’t think of how to answer. He glanced down at her, his mouth open as if he would speak, but no words came out. The truth was, he thought, feeling humble, feeling stupid, he didn’t think he would mind any more than the raelynx did being kept in perpetual service to the princess. “Men generally don’t make very good pets,” he said at last, and she went off in a peal of laughter.
“Didn’t you say that about the raelynx?” she said.
He managed a grin. “And it’s still true, whatever you may think.”
They didn’t speak for most of the walk back to the palace, being engaged in dodging the attention of servants and soldiers and random couriers off to deliver messages. They made it inside unseen and crept carefully down the passageways toward Amalie’s favorite parlor. Valri was inside and sick with worry. It was the first time Cammon had ever been able to pick up her presence without a visual cue, and that underscored for him how alarmed she was to know Amalie had spent the day with him unattended.