I round the corner and see them. They’re standing across the water in the hot room, both of them wearing only towels. They’re unarmed, at least, but Adria is fire-born, and that means she’s still dangerous.
And, judging by the flame she’s twisting in her fingertips, Quinn is fire-born too.
Great.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my voice echoing in the cave.
“Stay out of it,” says Adria.
“Too afraid to fight me alone?” asks Quinn.
“Hardly,” says Adria.
“If you had dicks, I’d tell you to get them out.”
All three of us look around for the speaker. A woman rises slowly from the steaming hot pool. She’s old, with curly grey hair that has gone straight at the wet ends and sagging, wrinkled breasts.
She doesn’t reach for a towel. Instead, she hobbles naked over to Quinn, who is closer to her. She draws herself up as tall as she can. She barely reaches the top of Quinn’s towel, but it doesn’t seem to bother her any. “Stop this ridiculous display. You are of noble blood.”
Quinn opens her mouth to protest, but the woman gives her a withering glare. “Yes, your majesty.” Quinn bows in contrition.
Your majesty? There’s only one other person alive who merits that honorific. This must be the Dowager Queen Claudia of House Juni.
Ronan’s grandmother.
Queen Claudia glares at Adria from across the water. Adria bows as well and hastily walks back to the changing room, shooting a warning glare of her own at Quinn that says, “Don’t even think about following me.”
“It’s the fire in them,” says a voice from behind me. It’s Zara, the Guild Mistress of the Alchemists’ Guild, back at the palace again.
“Fire or not, there’s such a thing as manners,” says Queen Claudia. “You seem to have a better sense of that, from what I’ve heard.”
She gestures in my direction. Me? Someone must have been talking to her about me.
Ronan?
“Yes, your majesty,” I say. I can’t remember if I’m meant to bow to her, but the others did, so I do as well. I keep a tight grip on my towel; I feel exposed enough in front of these people without being literally naked.
“Are you enjoying your time in the palace?”
“Yes, ma’am. Very much so.”
“You see? This one has the grace to lie to keep the peace.” She smiles at me and looks me over, judging something. But she says nothing else. She’s still dripping as she walks back to the changing room with no towel.
With the dowager gone, Zara disrobes and enters the pool.
I hesitate. I have no love for the alchemists, but Larus did mention that it would be good to get to know her. Maybe I should join her.
“Do you know her?” I ask as I take a seat on an outcropping of rock that has been polished smooth by the water. “Quinn?”
She nods, moving closer to talk to me. Maybe she really is lonely. “For a few years now, since I was first invited to the palace after I joined the Guild.”
I know the question I want to ask her, but I’m not sure how it will be taken. “Are she and the king…well, are they together?”
Zara laughs. “Definitely not.” She leans in conspiratorially. It looks like she wants to gossip, and I’m so glad. “Quinn has been with just about everyone under fifty in the court, and I don’t think she plans to stop anytime soon. Maybe they’ve slept together too, I don’t know. But I doubt it. He’s not the type.”
“What do you mean by that?” I have to ask. I try to appear disinterested, but I’m certain she sees through me.
I decide that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Rumors could fuel his interest in me, and if it gets back to him, that will also let me know something about whether Zara can be trusted.
