He left, still unhappy, and Garnah chuckled. “You know my son’s weaknesses.You.You give him exactly the kind of love and trust a boy like Hamon needs.” Shuffling over to a side table, Garnah poured herself a crystal goblet full of spiced pear juice. She popped a chocolate into her mouth. Daleina didn’t know how she could eat at a time like this. She felt jittery inside and out.
“Do you know what he was like as a child?” Garnah didn’t wait for Daleina to answer. She talked as if she were conversing only with herself. “Pleasant. You’ve never had children, so you don’t know how unusual that is. Children can be charming or intelligent or imaginative or destructive balls of chaotic fury. But they’re rarely ‘pleasant.’ Our neighbors would coo over him and tell me how lucky I was to have such a well-behaved son. And Hamon would go on pleasing them, being unfailingly polite and kind. For many years, I assumed he was deliberately manipulating all those fools.”
Daleina pictured Hamon as a child, bright-eyed and eager to please—and how impossible it must have been for someone as empathetic as he was to have a mother who casually murdered people, including her own husband, Hamon’s father.It’s a wonder that Hamon came out of his childhood whole.
“It wasn’t until long after he left me that I realized the silly boy was sincere. He has a towering need to love and be loved. He truly cared about the well-being of all those ridiculous people. The only one he never found room in his heart for was me. Do you know how it feels to have your own child deny you?”
Daleina was saved from having to reply by the shriek of a tree spirit.
She’s here.
Striding across the room to the balcony, Daleina called to the spirits in Mittriel, felt their agitation, drew them closer to the blur of gold that crossed into the city. She asked the spirits to flank the queen, like an escort—they already wanted to watch her, so it was easy to coax them into the trees and the air. At Daleina’s direction, the spirits of Aratay funneled the queen of Semo toward the palace, where Daleina waited, her heart pounding in her throat.
Garnah joined her on the balcony. “I admit, I am looking forward to meeting her.”
“Wait within,” Daleina ordered. “I greet her alone.”
A massive golden eagle with a human face burst through the branches. It shook the trees, and red leaves swirled in its wake, falling in spirals. Daleina heard Garnah retreat behind her, for once not making any witty comment or arguing. With her eyes glued on the eagle spirit, she kept her mind open to the spirits of Aratay. She wouldn’t put it past Merecot to try to seize control of them, or attack them, or...
I don’t know what to expect from Merecot, which is the problem.
So she waited.
She’s still weak, Merecot thought as she flew toward the palace, flanked by the spirits of Aratay. She could sense the spirits’ curiosity mixed with hostility, and she knew Daleina was prodding and coaxing them to follow her. Even with the power of a queen, though, Daleina didn’t have the kind of control Merecot did. Merecot owned the will of the spirit she rode. If she’d brought her invading army of spirits with her, she could have easily overwhelmed Daleina’s spirits, assuming she didn’t have another irritatingly powerful heir like Naelin up her sleeves.
Merecot circled the palace, looking down on the Chamber of the Queen’s Champions and the Queen’s Tower.This should have been my palace.She’d been born in Aratay and always expected she’d be queen of her homeland. As a child, she’d spent hours imagining herself living in the white trees of the palace, climbing the famous stairs to the Council of Champions, holding the fate of the forests in her hands... She remembered playacting with Alet, quietly so their parents wouldn’t hear—both sisters dreaming of a life different from the one they had at home.
In their games, they’d always been the heroes.
And they’d always won.
I’ll win for you, Alet.She was so close now. Just one more hurdle.
Clearly anxious, the spirits of Aratay circled with her, and Merecot wondered if she sensed their own nervousness or Daleina’s.
It has to be one of those, though, becauseI’mnot afraid, Merecot told herself.And I’ll prove it.
As the eagle soared high above the queen of Aratay, Merecot leapt from its back.If you mean peace, Daleina, catch me. If not...If not, Merecot could recall her spirit to catch her before she splatted un-royally on the ground or impaled herself on a spire.
This is your test, Daleina. Are we going to fight, or talk?
Wind roared in her ears.
Catch me!
An ermine-like spirit with bat wings caught her and then dumped her onto the balcony. Merecot sprang to her feet as if her entrance had been just as graceful and dramatic as she’d planned. The problem was, she wasn’t certain whether it was her command or Daleina’s that had sent the spirit. Smoothing her skirt, she wished she hadn’t panicked right there at the end. She hoped Daleina hadn’t noticed. Calmly, with as much dignity as she could muster, Merecot said, “You invited me, and I have come.”
“Welcome to Aratay,” Daleina said.
Daleina, somewhat to Merecot’s surprise, looked queenly. She was dressed in a silver gown that pooled around her feet like melted moonlight. Her red, brown, and gold streaked hair was loose, and she wore a circlet of woven ivy.Nice effect,Merecot thought. “Royalty becomes you.”
“Thank you,” Daleina said. “You look well also.”
Okay, so we’re going to be stiff and formal. Too bad I don’t do stiff and formal. “It’s the lack of sleep and the constant stress. Really does wonders on the complexion.”
Daleina didn’t crack a smile. “I hadn’t heard that.”
Both queens stared at each other. “So... Ambassador Hanna was worried I’d think this was a trap. Is it?” Merecot asked in a falsely bright voice. “Did you invite me here to kill me?”
