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 glass 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.