“Then I take it back. You are looking utterly magnificent.”
Footsteps came pounding up from the side of the house, but even the Riders were unalarmed at the sight of the individual who was racing toward the new arrivals. A dark-haired girl, maybe ten or eleven, with bright eyes and something of Ariane’s determined expression.
“Uncle Cammon!” she cried, and flung herself into his arms. He laughed and swung her into the air.
“Look at you! At least two inches taller! Are you two inches smarter as well?”
“Is that Lyrie?” Kirra demanded. “Looks like she never had a day of ill health in her life.”
“And she hasn’t, since you healed her of red-horse fever,” Ariane said. “The healthiest, most exuberant child you ever saw.”
Lyrie was leading Cammon into the house, chattering as she went. Ariane gestured at the others to follow and glanced over her shoulder, where Tayse and Justin were conferring about how to deploy the Riders. This was Rappengrass, the most well-defended of the Houses. Senneth knew that here, if nowhere else outside of Ghosenhall, Tayse might be willing to relax his guard a little.
“Tayse,” Ariane called. “We are just having a family dinner tonight. Please join us if you wish.” She glanced at Kirra. “Donnal, too, if you like.”
Kirra laughed. “If he comes, he will not sit at the table like a proper man but follow me to the room shaped as a dog, expecting me to feed him scraps from the table.”
“He is welcome to do so. And bring any of the other Riders who would like to join us.”
“I think this will be much more fun than the dinners at Gissel Plain,” Kirra said.
Ariane made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. “I would be offended if it were not.”
Indeed, a couple of hours after they’d all settled into their rooms, cleaned off the grime of travel, and changed into somewhat less wrinkled clothing, they reconvened in the smaller of Rappen Manor’s dining rooms for an extremely convivial meal. Both Justin and Donnal elected to skip it, but Senneth was pleased that Tayse joined them willingly. She knew he liked Ariane Rappengrass. The marlady was forthright, unapologetic, loyal, and smart. And she poured a lot of resources into her fortifications and her soldiery. Senneth supposed Tayse appreciated that most of all.
“Does everyone know everyone?” Ariane asked over the babble of voices as they all took seats anywhere they could find an open chair. For Ariane, “just family” meant four of her children, their spouses, and their children added to the visiting party, which meant more than twenty people were sitting down at the table. “That’s Bella, that’s Marco, Lyrie you met this afternoon, and, of course, you know Darryn and Sosie—”
Senneth didn’t try to keep all of them straight, just smiled and addressed herself to her dinner. She had ended up beside Bella, Ariane’s oldest daughter and heir, with whom she’d only exchanged a few words in her life. But, not at all to her surprise, she found Bella well-spoken and unpretentious, though often distracted by the antics of her children.
“And how were Nate and Sabina?” Bella asked. “Desti, sit down and finish your potatoes. Sit down now. Thank you. He must have been quite pleased at the prospect of entertaining such royal company.”
Senneth was amused. “Indeed, Gisseltess vassals were lined up five deep to meet with Cammon at almost every meal.”
“Well, you can expect some of that in Rappen Manor as well!”
“Cammon has spent the entire journey taking every opportunity to meet anyone who’s shown any interest, from backwater farmers to highborn ladies, so I don’t think he’ll mind.”
“Desti, do you want me to send you from the room? Then sit down. Well, no matter who he’s talking to, I’ve never seen Cammon lose his sense of graciousness,” Bella said. “Although that’s not the right word.”
“He genuinely connects with people,” Senneth agreed. “He draws strength from their closeness. If you wanted to send Cammon into despair, you would lock him in a room far away from any other human presence. Although, since he’s Cammon,” she added, “he would probably be able to communicate over great distances with the people he loves the best, so it wouldn’t be as much of a hardship on him now as it might have been once.”
“Lyrie, could you show a little more decorum, please? You’re a serramarra, you could try to act like one. I’m glad to hear you say that,” Bella said, turning her attention back to Senneth, “because I’ve often had the sense that he and my mother really are in touch with each other—sharing thoughts, having actual conversations—while he’s in Ghosenhall and she’s here at Rappen Manor. She will just casually say, ‘Oh, Cammon mentioned that he thought this might be a good idea,’ and I’ll say, ‘Did he send you a letter? Can I read it?’ And she’ll get sort of vague. ‘No, not a letter, exactly . . .’ It’s very strange. And I’m starting to think Lyrie is in touch with him, too.”
Senneth toyed with her wineglass. “Cammon’s abilities are remarkable,” she said. “Is he having actual conversations with your daughter or your mother? Yes, I would guess he is. He has had them with me. On some of my darkest days, Cammon has been present in my mind. It is hard to feel abandoned when a friend is whispering reassurance.”
Bella snapped her fingers at the rambunctious Desti, who straightened in her seat and stopped twisting her brother’s arm, and then turned her head to thoughtfully survey the subject under discussion. “It was hard to know what to think when my mother came back after the war with the news that she had found him,” Bella said. “I was the only one of my brothers and sisters who realized she was pregnant back when it happened, and I was only just old enough to understand what a scandal it was for an unmarried woman to be in such a state. She went away to have the baby, but she came back home without one, and she never talked about what happened. I just assumed the baby had died.”
Senneth’s mouth was dry. Such delicate lines here between truth and falsehood! How much did Bella know? “Apparently, that’s what your mother was told by her friends and physicians.”
“And then twenty years later, this stranger appears, and suddenly my mother is calling him her son,” Bella said. “You have to realize, my siblings and I all assumed he was some adventurer who had stumbled upon an old secret and was blackmailing her in an attempt to win money or respectability.”
“I’ve always thought your mother would be very hard to manipulate,” Senneth said with a slight laugh. “She’d be more likely to publish some awful truth herself than to allow someone to use it against her.”
Bella nodded. “Exactly. No one intimidates my mother. So what kind of hold could this young man have over her? As soon as I saw him, of course, I realized the truth.”
“What truth?”
Bella spread her hands as if a gesture could convey unimaginable vastness. “She loved him. He belonged to her. She looked the way she looked when each of her grandchildren was born. I realized Cammon was part of her. And so it became very easy to welcome him, after all.”
Senneth, listening closely, could not tell if Bella actually believed the tale of Cammon’s parentage or if she had decided the truth didn’t matter when balanced against her mother’s happiness. “And I suppose there was no reason to fear he was after your inheritance,” she said cautiously. “Since he was set to marry the princess and would have no need to be usurping Rappengrass.”
Bella smiled. “I admit that made me easier in my mind. And I confess, I have not been reluctant to have my children be nieces and nephews to the queen and her consort. All in all, Cammon has proved to be a most satisfactory half-brother. I would fight very hard to keep him if someone tried to take him away from us.”
And that, Senneth thought, was just as good as true conviction. “One thing I have discovered about Cammon,” she said. “Once he has decided you are part of his life, it is no easy thing to dislodge him. So I think he would fight just as hard to stay, if someone tried to make him renounce all of you.”
None too soon, their t
alk turned to less dicey topics like weather, travel, and Bella’s children. “Lyrie is your oldest, isn’t she?” Senneth asked. “She looks a great deal like your mother.”
Bella nodded. “My oldest and my most spectacular. Oh, I love them all, of course, and I believe Desti will go on to do marvelous things in this world, if I don’t kill her first, but there is something special about Lyrie. She’s so interested and responsible and gifted. I am my mother’s heir, you know, and I am already certain that Lyrie will be mine. Rappengrass has a long history of choosing marladies over marlords, and I see that continuing for another couple of generations at least.”
Senneth took a meditative sip from her wine. “I find it interesting,” she said, “how many of the next set of heirs will be women. Mayva is already marlady in Nocklyn. You will be running Rappengrass. Casserah is Malcolm’s heir in Danalustrous. Rayson’s girl, what’s her name—Karryn—in Fortunalt. Lauren in Coravann. And, of course, there is a queen on the throne in Ghosenhall. What will it mean, I wonder, to have so many women wielding so much power?”
“What I hope it means is an end to violence,” Bella said.
Senneth shook her head. “Coralinda Gisseltess marched beside her brother when he went to war two years ago. And you must admit your mother has always had an instinctive understanding of what is worth fighting for—and how to fight. I do not know that women can be counted on to be more peaceful than men.”
“Perhaps not,” Bella admitted, “though I like to believe we will first try collaboration over coercion. At any rate, I think women can work together to build a stronger Gillengaria. I hope we can, anyway.”
“It is a good goal,” Senneth said softly. “I hope you can, too.”
AFTER the meal, all the children were sent up to their rooms while the adults regrouped in a pleasant salon and sampled a variety of sweet wines that some of Ariane’s vassals had bottled. Senneth found Tayse deep in conversation with Bella’s husband, Marco, discussing hypothetical battle maneuvers.
“Bella was right, after all,” she said laughingly.
“She usually is,” Marco said. “What did she say?”
“Oh, merely that men are more prone to violence than women.”
Tayse smiled down at her. “I have seen women on the battlefield who acquitted themselves better than most men.”
Ariane joined them, Kirra tripping along beside her. The marlady said in her astringent way, “There will always be aberrations, and your wife is one of them, but that does not mean they distort the general truth.”
“I can fight,” Senneth said. “But I don’t particularly like to. In fact, the older I get, the less I like it.”
“I rather enjoy it, but only if my opponent is truly evil,” Kirra remarked. “Then I can feel justified in taking lioness form and eating his heart.”
“But then, you’re feral,” Tayse said.
She made a face at him. “You might be the finest Rider of your generation,” she said, “but I could probably claw your eyes out.”
“I think we have refuted the proposition,” Senneth said.
Cammon strolled up to their group, smiling widely enough that the topic of death naturally retreated. “It’s so much quieter with the children gone!” he exclaimed. “I felt like I was shouting through the whole meal. But I miss them already.”
“Well, you won’t have to miss them for long,” Ariane said. “I believe Desti and Moro plan to wake you up before sunrise tomorrow to go on some expedition.”
Tayse looked at Cammon with his eyebrows raised. “Here at Rappen Manor, we had not planned to set guards outside your door, but if you want us to—”
Cammon was laughing. “No, I like being plain Uncle Cammon,” he said. “I am enjoying the children so much! I can’t believe how they’ve grown.”
“You should visit more often,” Ariane said. “You and your wife both. It’s not good for you to be immured in that palace. Spend more time traveling Gillengaria.”
Cammon tried to keep his face polite, though he could not help sending accusing looks at Tayse and Senneth. “Our advisors have cautioned us against going too far outside of Ghosenhall,” he said.
“Well, if you want my opinion, I think that staying behind his palace walls so much was one of Baryn’s few mistakes,” Ariane said roundly. “Maybe if he’d been more accessible, there wouldn’t have been so much dissent.”
“I don’t know about that,” Kirra said. “Halchon and Rayson probably would have coveted the throne even if Baryn had come to see them every six months.”
“Maybe,” Ariane conceded. “But I don’t know that Rafe Storian would have joined the rebellion if Baryn had been a more sociable king. I would like to see Amalie travel to every corner of the realm—and do it every year.”
Senneth kept a wary eye on Tayse. “But Ariane, the prime issue is safety. How can we protect her if she’s on the open road—or in a house that offers a poor setup for defense?”
“How can you protect anyone anywhere?” Ariane demanded. “Baryn died right there in his own palace, with Riders on either side of him! I’m not saying you should take foolish chances, but there’s a different sort of risk involved in never letting her out of the city at all. She’s a very lovable girl. Make her a lovable queen, and you will scotch any desire for another war anytime soon.”
“I think that’s very good advice,” Cammon said, beaming.
Tayse offered a smart bow. “The marlady makes an excellent point.”
Kirra seemed to be struck with a marvelous notion. “She can make the summer circuit!” she exclaimed. “Go to all the balls, just like she did three years ago.”
“Oh yes, because there was never any excitement or danger when we traveled with her then,” Senneth said.
“Well, she survived just fine, didn’t she?” Ariane demanded. “And the two people who most wished her harm are now dead. It might be a very good idea. Anything to get her out of the palace.”
“I could send for her right now,” Cammon offered. “She could round up a dozen Riders and meet us in Fortunalt.”
“I would rather be present for any expedition that includes the queen,” Tayse said, his voice respectful but unyielding. “Give us time to consider and plan.”
“It’s sounding more and more like she should travel the summer circuit,” said the irrepressible Kirra. “I’ll have to join you for that.”
“Bright Mother burn me,” Senneth said with a sigh. “And I swore I would never attend another dress ball.” She cheered up as a thought occurred to her. “Though I don’t suppose I’d have to come along.”
“Of course you would,” Kirra and Cammon said in unison. Kirra added, “I’ll help you pick out your gowns. It will be fun.”
“Aren’t you glad you came to Rappengrass and asked my advice?” Ariane said.
“I don’t actually recall asking it,” Senneth said. “I think you volunteered your opinion.”
Ariane’s broad face was creased with a smug smile. “That’s what mothers-in-law are for. To say the hard truths everyone else is afraid to voice. Now come try one of our new wines. There’s a slight flavor of honey spice to it, imported, of course. Rappengrass would be happy to gift a few bottles to Ghosenhall, especially if you mentioned the vintner. We think very soon it will be all the rage.”
WHEN the evening was finally over and they were back in their room, Senneth turned to Tayse as soon as the door shut behind them.
“I’m sorry Ariane said it in such a clumsy way,” she said, “but she might have a point.”
He smiled briefly, but behind the expression she could still read two years of buried pain. “Baryn did die with Riders on either side of him,” he said. “It was no more than the truth.”
She put her arms around him, leaning for a moment against his broad chest. As always, even when she wasn’t aware of being particularly fatigued, she drew strength from him; she knew that, when he needed it, he could pull energy from her. Together they were a powerful combination
. “But Riders kept Amalie safe that same day,” she said. “Can you do so on the road?”