Read Reader and Raelynx for Free Online

all!”
    “That’s not the kind of surprise I meant,” he defended himself. And then, “But what did you say? What do you mean?”
    She sobered, mostly, but she was still smiling. “Your name came up as the king and I were discussing how best to conduct this—this—courtship of Amalie’s. And Baryn said, ‘How can we know which of these suitors can be trusted?’ And I thought of you. You will at least know who is lying and who is telling the truth when they kneel before her to offer their devotion.”
    “So—what?—you want me to stand beside the princess when these serramar come calling? Won’t they think that’s strange?”
    “The logistics aren’t all worked out yet,” Senneth admitted. “But the king wants you to come to the palace tomorrow. There’s to be a luncheon for our guest from Karyndein.”
    Cammon raised his eyebrows. “I won’t be able to tell much about him. ”
    She nodded. “I know. I told Baryn that. But since he’s here…” She shrugged. “Can you be at the palace tomorrow by ten in the morning?”
    “It will be nice to see Amalie again,” he remarked.
    Senneth just looked at him a moment, and this time she was more successful at hiding her thoughts. “I don’t know how much time you will actually spend with the princess,” she said at last. “And you know it was different last summer, when we all traveled together. She was quite open with you then, but now—Cammon, I know you think every person was put in this land just to be your friend, but Amalie’s different. You’re a nameless mystic and she’s going to be queen. You’ll have to show her a little reserve—if you’re actually capable of that.”
    Her expression was kind, if rueful, and he didn’t take offense. Indeed, he knew she was right. It was hard for him to understand distinctions of rank and class, especially when, as far as he could tell by the emotions that bubbled up from them, all people were pretty much the same. “All right. I won’t speak to her unless she speaks to me, and then I’ll just be civil and distant.”
    “That would be best. So we’ll see you tomorrow? Come find me, and I’ll take you to the king.”
    That ended their private conference, and they returned to the kitchen for dessert and more conversation. Senneth left shortly afterward, and Cammon informed Jerril he would not be available for lessons the following day—and perhaps for many days to come. He had been invited to the palace to serve the princess, to whom he would not speak.
    But later that night, as he lay awake thinking over the day’s events, Cammon found himself hoping that Amalie did remember him and did offer him at least a remote and formal friendship. He had been one of her favorites last summer, as her whole retinue crisscrossed Gillengaria making stops on the social circuit. It wasn’t like they had ever had a private conversation, for Queen Valri was always two steps away, and they were attended by the regent, four Riders, twenty royal soldiers, and a handful of other mystics. And yet Cammon had liked the princess. She was only a year younger than he was, pretty, with wide brown eyes and that shining hair, and a serious, thoughtful expression that could turn in a moment to an almost childlike delight.
    Her life, he knew, had been circumscribed and strange. Until last year, she had almost never been seen outside the palace, for the king feared attempts on her life and had kept her closely sheltered. It was hard, even for Cammon, to tell how she felt about that—she was oddly hard to read, almost as if she were a visitor from overseas and impenetrable to his particular magic. Like everyone else, he had to judge her interior emotions by the expressions she chose to show outwardly, and he had concluded that she was interested in everything, afraid of very little, pleased at small attentions, and wary about the world in general. And lonely.
    It was the loneliness that called to him most. More than once he had