Still watching the field, Valri nodded slowly. “Yes. I will do everything in my power to guard her. But I crossed the mountains for Pella’s sake-I had not even met Amalie at that point. I don’t know if I can explain it to you. Pella was almost a stranger to me. She looked nothing like me or anyone I knew, for she had bright gold hair and that open smile, just like Amalie’s. And yet I recognized her. She was in some way a sister. I felt that she had come to the Lirrens specifically to find me.” Valri glanced at Cammon and glanced away. “I thought the Great Mother-who counts every soul, who knows where every one of her sons and daughters lies sleeping at night-I thought she had directed Pella to me. I thought the goddess had given me this task. And so I accepted it.”
Ellynor, too, seemed to have a direct and personal relationship with that night goddess who watched over Lirrenfolk. It did not surprise Cammon nearly as much as Valri might think to hear that she followed the will of the deity. He asked, “And have you been sorry that you gave up so much to come here? Or glad?”
Valri made a sound that might almost have been a laugh, except it wasn’t. “Sorry every day. I miss them more than I thought I possibly could-my sisters, my brothers, my cousins, my-everyone. And glad every day. Convinced that my presence has saved Amalie from both grief and danger. And sorry again, as I find grief and danger creeping closer anyway, and I think I have no way of keeping them away from her.” She turned her head to survey him. “And glad again, when I think she has other friends besides me to stand at her side.”
Her words gave him a little glow, especially since the last time Valri had talked to him about Amalie she had been warning him to keep his distance. She must have recovered some of her faith in him. “What will you do, once Amalie is named queen?” he asked curiously. “We hope that will be years from now, of course! But you will be widowed then, I suppose. Will you go back to the Lirrens? Will you stay in Ghosenhall?”
“I will stay as long as she needs me. But after that-I’m not sure. I may go back. I may travel. I may leave Gillengaria altogether, who knows? But I would like to see the Lirrens again someday. I miss them, I miss-” She shrugged and closed her mouth.
He didn’t know what made him say it. Maybe there was an image in her mind, and her emotion was sharp enough that he could sense it, though normally she was so adept at cloaking her thoughts. “You could marry again.”
She gave him a swift look in which he read a sudden surge of pain. “If anyone I cared for would have me.”
He caught his breath. “Did you leave someone behind in the Lirrens?”
She hesitated and then she nodded. “We were both young, of course. I was about the age Amalie is now. But I loved him. I thought it would kill me to leave him. Yet I survived, and he survived, and now I am married to the king.”
“You’re still young,” Cammon pointed out. “If something were to happen-well-of course I don’t want anything to happen, but if it did-”
“You think he will have waited for me?”
“I would have, if it were me,” he said.
The words hung between them for a moment, both of them surprised. He thought Valri softened toward him in that instant, lost just the tiniest edge of her diamond hardness. “Ellynor says he has not yet taken a bride,” Valri said in a low voice. “But that he does not speak of me.”
“Does everyone in the Lirrens know everyone else?” he demanded. “I know you’re all part of these complicated clans, but-”
“He is Ellynor’s cousin. I believe your friend Justin actually met him during his stay.” She gave him a smile, but he thought it was forced. “So, you see, I have fewer secrets every day.”
He didn’t know how to say how honored he was that she had trusted him with a few of those secrets, nonetheless. Instead he smiled and spoke lightly. “I’m guessing you still have a few left.”
Her own face was sad. “Unfortunately, you’re right.”
VALRI’S last and worst secret was revealed that very afternoon.
Amalie had cleaned up and changed clothes and now sat in the rose parlor looking the very picture of demure royalty. The three of them had settled in their customary chairs before the window, hoping to absorb the sunlight, while Valri went through Amalie’s correspondence. None of the letters were calculated to please Cammon, since they were all from young lords or their fathers, all desirous of seeing Amalie make a connection with their Houses.
“Here’s a young man from Coravann who plans to be in the city next week,” Valri said, scanning a few pages that were accompanied by a long, slim box tied with gold ribbon. “He has sent you a small gift as his envoy-that’s a nice way to put it, don’t you think? Anyway, he hopes you will accept it and possibly wear it when he comes to call.”
“I thought the princess had already entertained a suitor from Coravann,” Cammon said.
“Yes, the marlord’s son,” Valri said. “But other high-ranking nobles will of course come to pay court. It is not always politic for a princess to marry the heir to a House. Sometimes a lesser lord is a better prospect, as he would know.” She glanced at Amalie. “I’m guessing he’s sent you jewelry, don’t you think?”
Amalie was untying the ribbon. “Probably. I hope it’s not hideous, or I won’t want to wear it.”
“Surely something made with lapis lazuli,” Valri said. “Isn’t that the gemstone of Coravann?”
“Or the royal lion,” Amalie guessed.
But they were both wrong. When Amalie opened the box, she revealed a creamy white moonstone nestled on a bed of black silk. A heavy silver chain coiled around it like a protective serpent.
“Oooh, very pretty,” Amalie said, lifting it from the box and holding it up by the clasp. The moonstone, swinging languidly at the end of the chain, held an internal phosphorescence that seemed unaffected by the sunlight-no brighter, no duller. Just the sight of it made Cammon’s skin prickle; he knew it would sear his hand if he touched it.
“Looks like the chain’s just the right length,” Valri observed. “The moonstone will cover your housemark if you put it on.”
If you are truly a mystic, I will discover it now, Cammon thought. For you will scream aloud as soon as it lies against your skin.
Amalie quickly took off the pendant she habitually wore, consisting of ribbons of gold woven together and studded with the gemstones of the Twelve Houses. When she fastened the gift necklace around her neck, the moonstone fell perfectly on the small red mark centered just above her breasts.
She did not cry out, but Cammon did.
He felt as if a giant hand had closed over his body and clawed hard, carelessly stripping away his flesh. He felt as if a malevolent spirit had put its mouth against his and sucked the air from his lungs with one disastrous kiss. He felt as if his mind had been darkened, his eyes had been blinded, all his senses shut down and replaced by pain. Choking and dazed, he toppled to the floor, where he crouched and coughed for breath. Through a roaring in his ears he heard Amalie call his name, heard Valri exclaim, Take it off! Take it off! Felt Amalie’s hand on his shoulder, Valri’s palm against his cheek.
Then, just as abruptly, the world righted itself again. Pain gone, sight clear, hearing perfect.
Cammon glanced around to find Amalie and Valri kneeling on the floor beside him, Amalie still with her hand on his shoulder. She had yanked off the necklace without even bothering to undo the clasp, so now it lay, twisted and broken, halfway across the room where she had thrown it.
“Cammon!” she repeated, her eyes wide with fright. “What happened? Are you all right?”