“Oh, how delightful,” Garnah said. “A woman with nearly unlimited power is emotionally unstable. Would you like me to kill her?”
“No!” Daleina, Arin, and Hamon said simultaneously.
“Pity,” Garnah said, and ate another grape. “Death solves so many problems. Won’t you at least entertain the notion? There’s a new potion that I’ve been justdyingto try, pun intended—”
“Absolutely not,” Daleina said. Enough had died.I have to reach out, try to see how much damage Naelin’s ill-conceived attack did.But first she had to recover. Her mind felt as if it had been shoved through a cheese grater. She also had to conserve strength, in case Naelin woke and decided to rage again.She’s too strong, Daleina thought.That power dump probably didn’t even leave her winded.
“Mother, could you please leave us?” Hamon asked.
“Of course.” Scooting off the table, Garnah swept toward the door. “Arin, come with me. You haven’t mastered today’s potion.”
Arin didn’t move.
Garnah commanded, “Arin, come. The crisis has passed.”
Not budging from beside her sister, Arin, squeezed Daleina’s hands. “Has it passed?”
Daleina tentatively reached her mind toward the northwest corner of Aratay—This much I can do without exhausting myself,she thought. Even still, she felt herself stretch thin as she strained to touch the borders. The spirits had fled, hiding and burrowing as deep and as far south as they could. All was still. Drawing her mind back, Daleina nodded at Arin. “I believe so.”
Arin didn’t let go. Daleina saw the worry on her sister’s face as plain as if it had been painted there, and she felt a stab of guilt—Arin was still so young. Not yet fifteen. She should be in their home village, chasing her dream of someday owning her own bakery, figuring out who she was and what she cared about, maybe finding someone to take the place of Josei, the boy she’d dreamed of someday marrying... Instead she was here in the palace, worrying about catastrophes, and Josei was dead, one of the first casualties of Daleina’s ascension. Arin’s eyes bored into hers. “You’ll call for me, if anything changes? If you need me at all?”
“I will,” Daleina promised, although she wished she could just send Arin back home. The middle of a crisis was not the time to start an argument with her sister, though.Later, she promised herself,I’ll find a way to get her out of danger.Daleina shot Garnah a look and hoped the woman understood that if anything happened to Arin...
Garnah met her eyes without blinking, and Daleina was certain shedidunderstand. Hamon’s mother had an excellent survival instinct. It was empathy and other ordinary emotions that she lacked. Herding Arin before her, Garnah left the room.
Daleina and Hamon were alone.
“You need to rest,” Hamon said.
Daleina shook her head. “I have to stay alert, in case it happens again.” But she did lean her head against his shoulder. “It was supposed to bebetternow. Easier.” They’d stopped an invasion, thwarted an assassin, and found a second powerful queen to protect their forests. They should have at least bought their country a little more time before the next disaster.Apparently not, she thought. “I am going to go down in history as the worst queen in all of Renthia.”
He kissed her forehead. “None of this is your fault.”
That much was true. “Then the unluckiest.”
“Perhaps that.” He drew back. “I know it was Queen Naelin, but may I check you anyway?” When she granted permission, he opened his healer’s bag, then checked her temperature, blood pressure, heart rate. He had her spit into a vial and tested it by adding a drop of a purple liquid—it turned white when he shook it.
“Not dying today?” she asked.
“Not today,” he said with a smile. Hamon’s smile was one of the best things in her world. It was as warm as a down blanket in winter and as comforting as an embrace. It made her feel as if she were doing everything right and that everything would turn out fine. Standing, he held out his hand and helped her to her feet. Her knees felt shaky, and she drew a few deep, steadying breaths. If Naelin broke down again anytime soon, Daleina wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to face it. She’d end up as a puddle on the floor.But I may not have any choice, she thought. Protecting Aratay was her responsibility.And it should be Naelin’s as well.
“What happened?” Hamon asked as he helped her to her throne. She sank into it gratefully, smoothed her skirts, and straightened her crown. He assisted with her hair, pinning back the loose red-and-gold strands.
“The reports from the spirits are garbled, but from what I can sense, something happened to Queen Naelin’s children, and she reacted. Badly. She drove the spirits north, over the border to Semo, forcing them to attack. But it wasn’t a controlled attack. This was wild, unplanned. It... it makes no sense. I don’t knowwhyshe reacted the way she did, without thought, without care for the consequences.” She shook her head. “Ven will send a message when he can—he was there,” Daleina said. “Hopefully he can help explain this.” She wasn’t sure it really mattered, though. Whatever the cause, what she had to focus on was handling the aftermath.
She’d have to reach out to Queen Merecot. Attempt to salvage some kind of diplomacy. They hadn’t yet formalized their peace treaty. This would make all of that a thousand times more difficult. Merecot would see it as a breach of trust, if not an all-out act of war.Why did Naelin do it?Daleina wondered for the umpteenth time.
Regardless, reports would be coming in soon from across Aratay about the damage. She’d need to assess the level of this crisis and then issue orders to distribute emergency care. Areas near the newly barren lands would have to be prepared to accept refugees—they’d need temporary housing, emergency food, other supplies—and then she’d have to set things in motion for permanent solutions. With winter coming, her people would need both warm homes and stores of food.
The thing was, what she really needed right now was Naelin. But that wasn’t an option, and Daleina was still a queen.
“Seneschal!” she called.
The man popped through the door so fast that Daleina was certain he’d had his ear pressed to it. Considering the circumstances, she didn’t mind. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Summon the chancellors from western Aratay. Do not tell them why—I will explain.” As soon as she’d recovered enough, she’d be able to pinpoint the exact spots of the worst damage with greater speed than anyone could report. Help could be in place before the innocent victims even asked for it.They may need healers, she thought. “Hamon...”
“I’m staying here,” he told her firmly. “But I will send messages to my colleagues.”
