When she was gone, Summer flopped back down on the lounge. “Carry on, Lily,” she commanded the young Summerlander who had been practicing her reading at Gabriella’s bedside these last several days. As Lily resumed her halting reading ofRoland Triumphant,Gabriella closed her eyes, flung a hand over her eyes, and tried to empty her mind.
Peace, however, remained elusive.
Dilys Merimydion was simply refusing to take a hint. In the two days since he’d regained consciousness, he’d made no less than ten requests a day to see her. She’d rebuffed each one, claiming she was still not up to visitors, but she wasn’t going to be able to hide behind that excuse much longer. Tildy’s healing skills, herb magic, and the blessings of the sun had already restored Summer to better health than she’d enjoyedbeforethe attack. In fact, despite having just mended from injuries so severe they should have killed her, Gabriella felt better than she hadin years.She was brimming over with energy and strength, and for the first time in a long while, she wasn’t having to constantly fight to keep her magic contained.
Not that she trusted her control to last, of course. The way she figured it, the explosion of magic that had ripped out of her and torn Lily’s evil brute of a father to shreds was the magical equivalent of the eruption of an active volcano. It relieved pressure that had been building up, but the reprieve was only temporary. Another eruption was inevitable.
Still, for now, she was no longer an immediate threat to her family or anyone else. And she was feeling so good that, if not for Dilys Merimydion, she would already be back at the school teaching classes. Instead, she was confined to her rooms and this terrace. Because the minute Gabriella stopped playing recovering invalid, she lost the one shield that kept Dilys Merimydion at bay.
Summer sat up so abruptly that Lily broke off reading in midsentence.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” the girl apologized in a mortified whisper. “I know I read some of that wrong, but I just don’t know all these big words.”
“What?” Realizing that Lily thought Summer’s abrupt movement was a show of irritation, Gabriella hurried to reassure the girl. “Oh, no, Lily, you’re doing splendidly. I’m so proud of the incredible progress you’ve made. I’m just finding it difficult to concentrate today. Instead of reading today, why don’t we just chat instead?”
Lily blushed and ducked her head. “Er... all right, Your Highness, if that’s what you wish. Though I’m not sure what you’d like to talk about.”
“Well, you can tell me what you and Talin have got planned today.” Lily and the young Calbernan she’d met had been seeing quite a lot of each other ever since the plaza dance.
“We’re going sailing down the fjord... and taking a picnic out to the point.” Lily smoothed her hands over the sleek, polished linen of her gown. Gone were Lily’s simple, threadbare country clothes. Once Gabriella had regained consciousness, she’d insisted on having Lily as her companion for the duration of her convalescence and had seen to it that Lily received a complete new wardrobe of gowns fashioned from fine, beautiful fabrics that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the daughter of any well-to-do merchant or gentleman. She’d kept the styles of her dresses simple, but the fabrics, though sturdy enough, were top rate.
Gabriella’s gesture wasn’t just generosity (or a not-so-subtle attempt on the matchmaking front). She honestly liked the girl. She liked her spirit and the courage she’d shown trying to make a better life for herself and her baby. Having felt the wrath of Lily’s father firsthand, Summer had an even greater respect for the young woman’s resilience. So keeping Lily close, continuing to encourage her reading and self-improvement, was the best way Gabriella could think of to help Lily achieve her aims.
But also, spending her waking hours teaching Lily to read gave her something to occupy her mind. Something other than the constant thoughts of Dilys Merimydion that had been haunting her ever since she’d awakened after the attack.
“That sounds delightful,” Summer said to Lily. “I’ve never been sailing. Mama was afraid of the water.” It had always struck Gabriella as ironic that the princess of a seafaring kingdom was so afraid of the sea. The few times their family had ventured to the coasts of Summerlea, Mama had steadfastly refused to visit the beach.
“Hello, dearest Gabriella. How are you feeling today?” Dressed in bright, sunny yellow, Autumn ran lightly down the terrace steps, carrying a beautiful arrangement of cut flowers. “Here. These are for you. And here’s the note.” She thrust the flowers into Summer’s hands, and turned to smile coolly at Lily. “Hello, Lily. Heading off to see your young man, are you?”
Surprise tinged with wariness flashed across Lily’s face and were quickly hidden as she bowed her head and bobbed a curtsy. “Yes, Your Highness. Thank you for asking.”
“Oh, don’t thank her,” Gabriella said. She set aside the note without a glance and laid the flowers on top. “She’s just keeping up with palace gossip. Aren’t you, Autumn?”
Autumn arched a brow. “Well, clearly you’re getting better. You’ve entered the cranky stage of healing.”
Gabriella flushed, immediately consumed with well-deserved guilt. “Sorry.”
Autumn smiled, and it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, brilliant and beautiful. “Not to worry. I forgive you. I am unbelievably saint-like, that way.” She plopped down on the chair Lily had vacated and reached for the book Lily had left on the table. “Roland Triumphant?” She laughed. “Of course, that would be Khamsin’s reading primer of choice, wouldn’t it?”
“Of course.” Roland Soldeus was Summerlea’s most famous historical figure—and the demigod ancestor from whom the Summerlea royal family descended. “She’s determined to correct the shocking lack of hero worship for him throughout Wintercraig—one new reader at a time.”
“How deliciously subversive of her.” Setting the book back down, she directed the power of her smile in Lily’s direction and said, “Have a wonderful time today, Lily.”
Clearly dismissed, Lily glanced uncertainly in Gabriella’s direction for confirmation, then bobbed a quick curtsy and hurried away.
“I wish you wouldn’t play princess with her,” Gabriella chided when she was gone. “She’s a sweet girl.”
“Who got you nearly killed.”
“Not her fault. If you’d seen her scars...”
“I heard all about them.” Autumn rolled her eyes at Gabriella’s surprise. “Hello? Seamstresses. They talk. Besides, I wasn’t playing princess. I was hurrying her along out of the kindness of my heart and a perverse new compulsion to play matchmaker. Her young man is downstairs wearing a hole in the stone with all his impatient pacing. Aren’t you going to read your note?”
Gabriella glanced at the edge of the folded, sealed envelope peeping out from beneath the discarded flower arrangement. “No.”
“You can hide out here until doomsday, but it won’t do any good. He isn’t going away.”
“I’m not interested.”
