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.”
“Restless again already?” Tayse said.
“Needed back home,” she said. “I promised Casserah I wouldn’t be gone long. I’ll probably head straight from Carrebos to Danan Hall.”
Tayse shrugged. “No reason not to leave Ghosenhall whenever the serramar is ready.”
“Well, not until I’ve killed Cammon,” Senneth said.
“Right after that,” Tayse said. “We’ll be on our way.”
BUT Cammon proved elusive the next day. Senneth always just missed him when she searched for him in his room, in Amalie’s company, in the kitchens. He was, of course, at his post during the dinner that evening, but somehow she lost track of him as the guests emptied from the room, and he didn’t show up at the cottage later that night.
“He’s avoiding you,” Justin said, seeming to find this hilarious. He and Ellynor had joined Senneth and Tayse after dinner; Kirra and Donnal had been gone all day, and, of course, no one knew where Cammon was. “He can tell you’re still mad at him.”
“I’m not! I just want to talk to him.”
“I’d guess it’s pretty hard to approach Cammon by stealth,” Tayse observed. “You’re never going to be able to corner him.”
Ellynor smiled a little wickedly. She was so dainty and small that Senneth was always surprised all over again when she exhibited strength and purpose. “I’ll help you,” she offered. “I’ll hide you so he doesn’t know you’re coming.”
They all liked this idea and spent a couple of minutes discussing the best time and place to trap Cammon.
“I’ll have him work out with me and then bring him back to our cabin for some reason,” Justin suggested. “You can be lying in wait.”
“Would you like me to recruit Coeval and Hammond?” Tayse inquired. “We can help you disembowel him.”
“No, no, I think I can kill him all by myself.”
THE plan was executed the following afternoon and worked perfectly. Senneth and Ellynor were standing just inside the door when Cammon, talking excitedly, followed Justin inside. His expression of dismay was so comical that Senneth almost forgave him on the spot, but this was too serious. So instead she grabbed him in a headlock and wrestled him to the floor while he flailed about and protested mightily.
“You traitor!” he yelled at Justin. “I warned you when people were waiting for you!”
Justin spread his hands. “Senneth,” he replied. “I couldn’t help it.”
“I hate to chase you out of your own house, but I need a few minutes alone with him,” Senneth said.
Justin grabbed Ellynor’s wrist and pulled her out the door. “We’re gone.”
When the door shut behind them, Senneth released Cammon, but they both remained on the floor, Cammon ostentatiously rubbing his wrist and throat. “Nobody realizes how mean you can be,” he said.
“And I never realized how stupid you could be,” she responded.
He stopped rubbing and gave her a straight look. Cammon’s eyes were so unusual, brown eyes flecked with gold spots-the eyes of a seer, or a madman, or a genius. She had never been sure. “Senneth, I haven’t done anything.”
“Then why have you been hiding from me?”
“Well, I didn’t want to be set on fire!”
“Seriously.”
He threw his hands up, then hunched his knees together and set his chin on top of them. “Valri’s already lectured me. Came to my room at midnight to warn me not to be too friendly to the princess. I don’t know what everybody’s so afraid of. I’m hardly the kind of person-well, I mean, look at me. Then look at somebody like Darryn Rappengrass. Or even Ryne Coravann. They’re like purebred horses. I’m a shaggy dog.”
“Yet people have been known to become very attached to misbegotten mongrels, especially when they’re loyal and affectionate.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Valri tells me to stay away. But Amalie is angry when I’m not there. It seems I can’t make anybody happy.”
“You can behave yourself,” Senneth said softly.
He looked mutinous. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Tell me you weren’t carrying on a private conversation with Amalie all during dinner the night before last.”
He said nothing.
“Exactly. That’s the sort of behavior that creates a certain-emotional intimacy. Yes, you have to attend Amalie when she requests it. No, you certainly don’t want to make your liege angry. But you appear to be on the road to becoming Amalie’s primary confidante. And that is a very tricky road.”
“How stupid do you think I am?” he burst out. “Do you think I’m crazy enough to think that-that-Amalie could fall in love with me? It didn’t even cross my mind till Valri said it! I still don’t think it’s possible! But if you keep going on about it-”
“Cammon. You’re a delightful young man and all of your friends love you very much. But it has always been clear that you don’t really have a sense of boundaries. You’ve always treated everyone as your equal. And that just won’t do when it comes to Amalie. You simply can’t be yourself around the princess. You have to be someone else.”