“Do you...” Renet’s voice broke. “Do you really think they could be still alive? They were taken by spirits. How could... Is it possible...”
“Naelin needs me to believe it. So I do.” Or at least he’d believe it was possible.
He let Renet talk all the way to the palace, story after story about Erian and Llor. Half-listening, he watched Naelin—back straight, chin high, fists curled—and wondered whether he was going to need to keep her from starting a war, or help her start one.
Chapter8
Queen Daleina lowered her head onto the exquisite table—crafted out of rare suka wood and inlaid with mother-of-pearl shell mosaic, a coronation gift from the queen of the islands of Belene—and slowly thumped her forehead on the surface.
“Your Majesty?” one of the chancellors asked tentatively.
She didn’t lift her head. The shell mosaic was nicely cool. “Exactly how bad will the harvest be? Broad numbers, please.”
Another chancellor cleared his throat. “We lost twenty-five acres of mature trees in the northwest, one hundred fifty per acre. The windstorm battered the trees so badly the fruit was knocked off. The harvesters have gathered as much as they could but the vast majority wasn’t ripe, and the long-term damage to the trees themselves... well, frankly, it’s devastating. If you could send spirits to regrow—”
“Seneschal, please add it to the list.” She raised her head. “Next?”
The chancellor who represented western Aratay rose. “As you know, we’ve also seen significant damage in the wake of Queen Naelin’s, um, response—”
“Yes, I know. What do you need?”
“Homes. We lost many homes when the spirits died. Your seneschal has our list of requests, but what I wished to speak with you about was the current problem: the last twenty-four hours have seen a marked increase in spirit attacks. The spirits’ behavior has been unusually aggressive, and there have been numerous injuries, some quite serious. Forgive my presumption, Your Majesty, but could there, perhaps, be a causal relationship between—”
Daleina cut him off. “I will look into it. Thank you. If that’s all...” She looked at her seneschal.Please let that be all.Her head was throbbing so enthusiastically that she thought her skull would bruise.
The chancellors started to protest, but the seneschal was bobbing his head, effectively ending the session. “If you’ll follow me, ladies and gentlemen...” He led the chancellors to the door of the council room. She rose. Each of them bowed to her before filing out, and she acknowledged each of them with a solemn nod that she hoped communicatedI am competent and all will be well soon.Shutting the door behind him, the seneschal left her alone.
She sank back into her throne in front of the mosaic table but didn’t let herself rest. Instead she sent her aching mind outward—yet again—to touch the spirits around the capital. While she couldn’t directly hear Queen Naelin’s thoughts, she could feel the agitation Naelin left in her wake. The woman was a storm sweeping across the land, without any consideration for the damage she was causing.
There’s a reason I don’t keep my mind open to the spirits.And it wasn’t lack of power or fear of death, though those were factors.The spirits don’t need to feel my every emotion.She raised her voice, “Seneschal?”
He popped his head back into the room so fast that she knew he’d been plastered against the door. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“As soon as Queen Naelin reaches the palace, please see that she’s escorted to me.” She had an additional thought: it was possible that the older woman wasn’t going to listen to a scolding by a younger queen. “Also, could you please ask Headmistress Hanna from Northeast Academy to join us?” Perhaps the headmistress could offer Naelin extra training—Naelin had become queen at a time of emergency and had skipped over all of the lessons in magic theory and history, instead going straight to the practical application of power.Thatpart she’d mastered quickly.
Too quickly, Daleina thought.
“And please send for Healer Hamon with his medicine bag—but take care not to alarm him. Only a touch of head pain, thanks.”
He bowed. “I will have food and drink sent as well, for your guests.”
“You think of everything, Belsowik.” She deliberately used his given name—he insisted she use his title most of the time, but she wanted him to know she valued him specifically. Not just anyone could be as efficient and thorough as he was. “Your queen is grateful.”
She was rewarded by seeing him blush at the praise. Still, that didn’t stop him from chiding her. “My queen needs to take better care of herself. Your evening activities will be canceled tonight, and you will rest after you meet with Queen Naelin.”
If I can, she thought. “I will,” she promised him.
“Rest now.”
Obediently, she laid her head on the table with her arms curled beneath her cheek. She closed her eyes. What seemed like only a moment later, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and she blinked her eyes open—her eyelids felt crusty, and her mouth tasted like it was stuffed with spider webs. Hamon was beside her, crushing herbs into a goblet. “This will keep your head clear, but then you’ll need to sleep.”
“My seneschal tells me that’s on my schedule.” Daleina ran her tongue over her teeth and patted at her hair. Accepting the goblet from Hamon, she drank. It tasted like pine tree with a hint of apple cider and cinnamon, not at all like medicine. “Nice.”
“My mother’s concoction.” He held up one hand to forestall any comment. “I tested it myself, and there are no unusual side effects. All it should do is clear your head, and perhaps slightly improve your eyesight and bone density—it has a few vitamins.”
She drank the rest of it. “How is she?” What she really wanted to ask was: how areyouwith her? Hamon had a strained relationship with his mother.And that’s putting it mildly. If she hadn’t saved my life and Arin’s...
He smiled, though it was a bittersweet kind of smile. “She hasn’t killed anyone lately. Or if she has, she’s become more skilled at hiding the bodies.”
