“We want to know more about Abicis,” Bree said. “Where are the misfits here? We’ve seen no one unusual.”
Qip smiled, showing straight white teeth. “Everything is perspective, my dear. Reality depends on how you see it. Come up here and sit by me. Tam, get in the back. We must find your lost friends.”
As Bree climbed up, she looked at Qip. “Please call Aradella that to her face. I dare you.”
“Ah, yes. The princess who fights Olina and Urah,” Qip said. “I look forward to meeting her. Cappie says you’re a Book and you can lift mountains.” He looked at Tam sitting on the back of the wagon. “It seems that you’re the only one who has no talents.”
Tam laughed but Bree didn’t. “If I put together a spell, Tam can ignite it, and he is an excellent father, and a—” She broke off as the two men were staring at her.
When Qip looked at Tam, the young man wouldn’t meet his eyes.
Qip drove them back to the town and halted in front of Cappie’s place. He was standing outside. “Where are they?” Qip asked.
Cappie tilted his head to indicate straight ahead. “They’re alerting the whole town.” He leaned to the side to see Bree. “Vomiting all night.”
“You?” Qip asked, alarmed
Bree knew what he meant. “Try dittany of Crete. Is his wife going to have a baby?”
Cappie grinned. “Yes. First one.”
“Give him whiskey. It’ll help with his fear.” She and Cappie laughed.
Qip flipped the reins to go. “He doesn’t like many people.”
“Can’t imagine why. He’s a darling man.”
Qip turned to Tam and, again, they exchanged looks.
Aradella and Mekos were easy to find, and as soon as they came into sight, Bree stiffened into steel. Qip looked at her in surprise, but said nothing.
Tam reached down to get Aradella’s hand and pulled her up into the back of the wagon. Mekos soared upward, then slowly lowered himself into the wagon. He was so graceful that his feet didn’t move.
Qip leaned toward Bree. “Every time I see one of them do that, it gives me chills. They are a strange order.”
“Better than being a useless Order of Royals,” she said. There was no humor in her tone and she stared straight ahead.
It took a while to reach Qip’s house. They went past a few nice houses, then the dwellings became farther apart until there was only dense forest, broken by a narrow dirt road.
The three in the back were so busy talking to each other that Bree felt free to speak. “Do you have neighbors?”
“No. This is all mine and I’ve hidden charged wiring to keep people out. I don’t like uninvited visitors.”
“I live in a volcanic crater with houses smashed together. This is divine.”
“Tell me about you and Zeon and Tam.”
She smiled. “Don’t forget Piks, Tam’s little son.”
“Do I detect envy?”
“Of course. A home and family. What more could a person want?”
“And what does Princess Aradella want?”
Bree’s jaw clenched. “To rule the world? I have no idea what would please her.”
Frowning, Qip looked ahead and they were silent for the rest of the journey.
