Piro pivoted to see Florin stride through the forest of columns wearing her strained travelling clothes, a pair of skates slung over her shoulder. The image made no sense. For an instant Piro thought she had slipped into the Unseen sight, but Orrade gasped Florin's name so she knew the trader's daughter had really arrived.
Florin recognised Byren and made for him.
'Bad news, Byren Kingson,' she called even as she approached. 'Da sighted Merofynian soldiers — '
'Rubbish,' Cobalt snapped. 'Who is this rough female, dressed as a man?'
Florin cast him one swift glance then focused on Byren. She was close enough now not to have to shout. 'You know how Da was off visiting his sister? Well, he come back yesterday lunchtime, with the news. I've been skating ever since.'
'If there were Merofynians in Rolencia our warning beacons would be burning,' Captain Temor said. 'And our spies would have sent word of a build-up of soldiers at Port Merofyn even before they sailed, so — '
'I don't know anything about spies or why the beacons aren't alight,' Florin admitted. She turned back to Byren. 'But Da's awful worried.'
'No one makes war in winter,' old Lord Steadfast objected.
'It's almost spring cusp,' Piro pointed out
No one listened to her.
'Girl, I am your king,' her father said.
Florin made a deep bow. 'I beg your — '
The king waved this aside. 'Now, where are these soldiers?'
Florin's cheeks were bright pink when she straightened up, but she answered the question. 'Da said they were camped below the Cockatrice Pass.'
'Highly unlikely,' Captain Temor whispered to the king. 'Lence has just been to see warlord Rejulas.'
Rolen nodded, casting a sharp glance in Florin's direction. 'How many men, girl?'
'Florin. This is Florin Narrowsdaughter,' Byren said. 'She helped us kill the manticore pride. I can vouch for her.'
'You have been disinherited,' Cobalt interjected. 'You can't vouch for anyone.'
'What?' Florin muttered, looking to Byren for an explanation.
'How many warriors, girl?' the king repeated, raising his voice.
She fixed on him. 'Da guessed around five hundred.'
'An advance party?' Temor suggested.
'A trader's imagination,' Cobalt countered. 'Too much wine, a lonely crossroads. He overhears some other travellers, panics and runs home.'
'Here,' Florin rounded on him. 'Don't you say that about my Da. He's no fool.'
'Quiet, girl!' King Rolen snapped then turned to consult with Temor.
Piro glanced to her mother for help, only to realise that everyone had stepped away from the queen. It seemed that even though her mother had been married to the Rolencian king for nearly twenty-one years and had produced four heirs, she was still a Merofynian kingsdaughter in their eyes.
Voices filled the great hall as the old honour guard argued. Some refused to believe the Merofynian king would prepare an invasion while signing a betrothal pact. Others thought it all too likely.
'Byren?' Orrade approached him, lowering his voice, but Piro was close enough to overhear. 'If Florin is right, Dovecote is in danger. I must warn Father and Elina.'
'I'm going, too,' Garzik insisted.
'We've sworn service to Byren's honour guard,' Orrade told his brother. 'We can't both ride off — '
'I send you,' Byren said. 'Elina, your father and Lence are all at Dovecote. If Florin's father is right, you must save them and light the warning beacon.'
Orrade and Garzik nodded.
'You're sending them to save Lence?' Piro whispered. 'When he — '
Byren met her eyes, silencing her with a look. 'Don't you see what Cobalt did? He tricked Lence into distrusting me. I don't know how he led the manticores to us but — '
'King Rolen?' Their mother's high voice cut through the men's deep rumbling. She stood small, regal and alone. 'Husband, hear my counsel. If Old Man Narrows is right, the invaders could easily march between Rolenhold and the abbey, cutting us off from the warrior monks. We need to get word to the abbot — '
'Don't listen to her. She's Merofynian,' old Steadfast warned.
'Besides, for all we know there is no army,' Cobalt added.
'Myrella's right, Rolen.' Captain Temor turned to the king. 'If this is an advance attack, we can crush them between the abbey's fighting monks and our palace guard. We have to send someone to the abbey — '
'I'll go,' Byren offered.
'No, Byren. That would mean passing under the very noses of the Merofynians,' their mother protested. 'You could be captured and killed!'
Piro waited for her father to refuse to send Byren.
He hesitated, considering.
'Let me go, Father. Let this prove my loyalty to you, to Lence and to Rolencia,' Byren urged. 'Lence is at Dovecote. Orrade and Garzik will warn him — '
'Send Lence's honour guard with them,' Captain Temor suggested. 'We need the heir safe back here.'
Piro glanced to Byren. His mouth tightened. To them, he was disposable and it tore her apart.
'We'll go alone,' Orrade said. 'A small party can move quickly without attracting attention, and fifteen or twenty warriors cannot hope to stand against five hundred.'
'You're right. You've a good head on your shoulders, lad,' Temor told him. Piro blinked. Had he forgotten that Orrade was a lover of men?
Byren grabbed his cloak and fixed it in place. 'I'll go now.'
'Take — ' her mother began.
'I'll take no one else into danger. Besides, like Orrie said, I'll travel faster alone.' Byren glanced to their father, but King Rolen deliberately turned away to speak with his honour guard.
Byren looked stunned, then cleared his throat and spoke to Piro. 'Tell my honour guard I absolve them of their vows. They must not suffer dishonour because of me.'
She stared at him, horrified.
He turned on his heel and strode off.
Piro ran after him. She had to take two steps for every one of his. 'Wait, Byren. You'll be captured and killed — '
'I must prove my loyalty,' he said.
'Wait, Byren,' Orrade called as he and Garzik caught up with him.
'Kingson.' Florin hurried to join them, matching her stride to his. 'I don't know why you have to prove your loyalty but I do know that if your mother's right you'll be passing under the Merofynian army's nose. You should take — '
'Since when does a tradepost's daughter know better than a kingson?' Byren demanded. 'I go alone.'
Florin's mouth dropped open.
'Byren!' Piro protested, even though she couldn't blame him.
Byren caught Piro's face between his hands and pressed his lips to her forehead. 'Goodbye, little sister.'
She couldn't see him stride away for the tears.
'I fear you will have to be strong, Piro,' Orrade muttered, and hugged her.
'Be brave, Piro,' Garzik whispered as he planted the gentlest of kisses on her cheek. Then he and Orrade followed Byren out.
Echoing down the hall, she heard King Rolen order his honour guard to the war table. Still talking, the old warriors marched out. Cobalt issued orders to a wizened little man, some new servant of his, before following her father.
Piro ran after the queen, catching her arm. 'Mother.'
'Yes?' But she was watching the men leave.
'It's Lence who has cut himself off from Byren, not the other way around.'
'I worked that out.'
'Don't let Cobalt advise Father.'
Her mother gave a short, bitter laugh. 'I fear it is too late. I will be lucky if they let me join them. I must go, Piro.'
She hurried after the others, leaving Piro alone with Florin in the great hall. All the servants had run off to spread the terrible news.
'Do you want me to follow Byren?' Florin offered. 'Look after him?'
Yes, she did. But it wasn't fair on Florin and Byren wouldn't thank her. 'No. You've done so much already.' Piro tried to think straight. 'Are you hungry or tired?'
'Both, but I can't stay. Da reckons Narrowneck is in the path of the Merofynian army. With our palisade falling down and no defenders, we can't stand against them. He's going to take Leif into the Divide. I'm to meet him there.'
Piro nodded. 'Then let's go to the kitchen and make sure you have enough to eat. Do you want to borrow a horse?'
She grinned. 'Eh, me on a king's horse, now that'd be a sight!'
Piro smiled, but her heart was cold.
Byren looked up as Captain Temor slipped into his chamber.
'There you are, lad.' His earnest eyes held Byren's. 'You know the canals better than our enemies. Go as far as Narrowneck tradepost with Orrade and Garzik, then separate.'
It was a decision he had come to, but the grizzled captain wasn't really here to advise him. He was here because he believed Byren.
'Thanks.' His voice caught and he could not go on.
The old warrior nodded. 'Good luck, lad.'
Temor left as Garzik and Orrade arrived with food for the journey.
'What did Captain Temor want?' Orrade asked.
Byren shook his head, unable to speak. He should be grateful to Cobalt. Now he knew who his true friends were.
Early the next morning, Piro waited by the door to her father's private chamber. Her stomach rumbled, demanding breakfast, but she was determined to catch him alone. He hadn't let her mother into the war table room yesterday, and all evening he had been surrounded by his advisors. The day her father trusted Cobalt ahead of her mother was a black day for Rolencia.
A muffled noise made her stiffen. Her father was awake at last. Giving a soft knock she entered, marshalling her arguments.
'Piro? What are you doing here?' The king drained a goblet, hands shaking as he returned it to the manservant.
'Are you all right, father?' she asked, shocked to see him so fragile. With his back to her, he stood naked on the far side of the bed. Surely his body hadn't been so wasted? She remembered great slabs of muscle on his shoulders.
'No, I'm not all right. Valens hasn't worked on me yet, that's all.' He moved like an old, old man as he lowered himself onto the bed, belly down. 'I'll be fine soon. This winter has been hard on my old injuries, Piro. Some days, if it weren't for Valens, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed.'
Piro glanced to the manservant, who waited with his jars of unguents. When he did not meet Piro's eyes, she decided she did not like him. His black hair was pulled back in a severe plait, his only concession to Rolencian custom.
'Now, what is so important that you must barge into my chamber before I've dressed?' her father asked, sounding more resigned than annoyed.
'I'll come back later.'
'I'm riding out to check on Rolenton's defences as soon as I'm dressed. So speak now. And… a little privacy, if you don't mind!'
She turned away to face the door. This was not the way she had foreseen holding this conversation. If the manservant was Cobalt's own, likely everything she said would make its way back to him.
'Well?' her father prodded. His voice was muffled, his face in the bed clothes.
'You're breaking Mother's heart. How can you refuse to see her?'
'I haven't refused to see her.'
'You shut the war table door on her.'
She heard the king sigh and then the gentle slap, slap as Valens worked on him. A strange smell, the cream Valens rubbed into her father's sore joints, filled the air. It made Piro's head buzz. She could hear the manservant muttering something softly under his breath as he worked. It reminded her of the sing-song ward that Fyn had taught her to keep out untamed Affinity.
The back of her neck tingled uncomfortably.
She turned around, slipping easily into Unseen sight. Energy vibrated from Valens hands, moving over her father's body. She bit back a gasp. The taste of untamed Affinity sat sharp and bitter on her tongue. At first she thought it was sinking into her father, then she realised Valens was drawing it out of her father. But the king didn't have Affinity, so what was Valens stealing?
Fyn's warning came back to her. Never let a renegade Power-worker touch you.
'You wouldn't understand why I had to shut your mother out,' King Rolen told her in a weary voice. 'These things are too complex for you, little Piro.'
But she did understand, only too well.
Cobalt had planted a renegade Power-worker on her father and, since midwinter, Valens had been working on the king to weaken his body and will.
'I… I'm sorry.' She hardly knew what she was saying. 'I was just worried.'
'Let me do the worrying.'
'Yes, Father.' All she wanted to do was get out of there before the Power-worker realised she knew what he was. 'I hope you're feeling better soon.'
The king made some muffled reply as she fled.
She ran straight to her mother's private solarium, where she found the queen bent over her writing desk.
'There you are, Mother, I — '
'Quiet, Piro,' Seela said. 'Your mother's writing to Rolencia's ambassador to Merofynia. He'll know what King Merofyn is doing.'
'But it will take too — '
'Quiet!'
Piro hopped from foot to foot as her mother finished the letter, sealed it with wax and pressed her foenix sigil into the red blob as it set. She handed it to Seela, who bustled towards the door. The message would be sent on the next ship to Merofynia, but it would be too late to help them now.
'Don't go, Seela, this is important,' Piro warned.
The queen looked over to her. 'What's so important?'
'Father's new servant, the Ostronite Valens, is a renegade Power-worker!'
'A healer, with new ideas from Ostron Isle?' Her mother frowned. 'That would explain why Rolen prefers him over our abbey healers. I wonder if they suspect he has Affinity? He's been able to do more for Rolen than they — '
'If Valens was a healer Cobalt would have said so. Have you seen Father before Valens works on him? He looks like an old man. He can hardly move!'
The queen blanched. 'Rolen hasn't let me into his private chamber since midwinter. He's been acting so strangely I can't get near him — '
'We must expose Valens,' Seela decided. 'Send for the warders, Myrella.'
'What will I tell them?' she countered. 'They'll want to know why I suspect him of Affinity.'
'Tell them that I noticed Valens' Affinity,' Piro said. 'I'm going to have to confess my Affinity to them by spring cusp anyway.'
'You're right, Piro. I've crippled myself by hiding my true abilities for so long that I'm not thinking straight,' her mother admitted.
'You did what you had to do, Myrella.' Seela told her firmly, mouth grim. 'I'll send this message to Merofynia. Piro, you tell the warders what we suspect and send them to this chamber. Then you can fetch Valens. When he gets here Autumnwind and Springdawn will be waiting for him.'
The queen nodded. 'I fear he won't go quietly.'
'If it comes to it, we'll have to kill him,' Seela agreed, without a qualm. Piro blinked. Seela noticed and added, 'We're justified. According to the King's Law no renegade — '
'He will not thank us. Poor Rolen.' The queen shook her head. 'He's always feared Power-workers, to think — '
'And rightly so. One day he'll understand,' Seela insisted. 'Come, Piro.' She bustled towards the door and Piro hurried after her.
They parted on the main stair case. Piro went to Sylion's oratory first because, though she disliked Springdawn, she knew the nun best. She found her old tutor lighting devotional candles. Their sweet, citrus scent filled the air.
'Ah, Piro. You're worried too? Don't be. I lit a dozen candles this morning. It's past midwinter but Sylion's hold on our land is still strong. One good blizzard would cripple the advance army, then the king's men will be able to mop them up. A blizzard is all we need from Sylion.'
'I have Affinity,' Piro said. 'Father's new manservant — '
'Affinity? Nonsense,' Springdawn snapped. 'I would have sensed it.'
'I've been hiding it,' Piro explained. 'Valens — '
Springdawn caught Piro's face between her hands, fingers pressed to her temples. Pressure, worse than the worst migraine, pressed in on Piro's mind. Instinct made her retaliate, thrusting out the intrusion.
Springdawn gasped and fell back two steps. Gingerly, she lifted her fingers to her lips, blowing on them as though she'd been burnt. Her frightened eyes fixed on Piro.
'I was just in Father's chamber.' Piro would not be diverted. 'I saw Valens drawing power off him — '
'Nonsense. Your father has no power. He must have been pouring power into him,' Springdawn corrected automatically, then frowned. 'You're sure Valens was manipulating Affinity?'
Piro nodded. 'Mother wants you and Autumnwind to come to her solarium. She'll send for Valens. When he gets there you are to contain him, execute him if you have to.'
'The king — '
'Is under Valen's influence. This must be done to save him. You and Autumnwind — '
'He's useless. He exhausted himself on Cobalt. I can handle this.' Springdawn's eyes gleamed. 'Executing a renegade would bring me to the mystics mistress's notice. It would mark me as her possible successor!'
Piro wasn't interested in the nun's career. 'Go up to the solarium. Mother's waiting. I'll bring Valens.'
Springdawn bustled off and Piro headed for her father's chamber. She'd tell Valens her mother's Turns were getting worse. He'd probably leap at the chance to get the queen under his power. Ambition was a useful tool.
Ten minutes later Piro walked down the corridor towards her mother's solarium with Valens at her side.
'So what happens when the queen has one of her Turns?' Valens asked, his leather case swinging between them as they walked.
'I don't know exactly,' Piro confessed. 'I only know she can't sleep and Seela's been giving her dreamless-sleep but it isn't working — '
'Because it's addictive and you need higher doses for the same effect,' he revealed. 'I'm sure I can mix up something more powerful.'
Piro nodded and opened the door, entering the room. Her mother sat at the writing desk. There was no sign of Springdawn. Piro sent the queen a searching look.
Her mother put her pen down and greeted them. 'Thank you, Pirola. Come in, Valens.'
'I explained how your Turns were getting worse, mother,' Piro said, gesturing to the manservant. 'And he thinks he can help.'
'Thank you, Piro.' Her mother did not miss a beat. 'Valens, I understand you use a special cream on Rolen to help his joints? Could I see it?'
'I do, but it won't help with your problem, Queen Myrella.' He put his leather case on the desk and opened the straps with a practised flick of his wrists. Before he could open the lid, the queen grabbed the case and shoved it under her desk.
Startled, he took a step back.
Springdawn came out from behind the tapestry that covered the servants' stair.
Piro darted out of the way, but did not leave. She did not want to miss this for anything.
'Valens of Ostron Isle, you have been accused of practising unauthorised Power-working on the king,' Springdawn announced with relish.
'Send for King Rolen,' Valens insisted. 'I have been nothing but a faithful servant — '
'Then you won't mind if I search your mind for untamed Affinity,' Springdawn countered.
Valens lifted his hands palm up. 'Do it, if you must.'
Springdawn stepped forwards.
Something was wrong here. Piro went to protest, but Springdawn, eager to make a name for herself, reached for Valens. The moment her fingers touched his temples he pressed his hands over hers.
She gasped.
Piro's nostrils stung and she tasted power on her tongue as her sight shifted to the Unseen. Valens pulsed with radiant Affinity. With each pulse, he drew off more of Springdawn's power, just as he had been drawing off her father's… only the king didn't have power. No, but his innate life force animated him and, recently, he had been only a shade of his former self.
The nun dropped to her knees. Valens bent over her. Piro sprang forwards.
'Don't touch,' her mother cried, the words echoing hollowly down the long tunnel of Piro's altered perception.
Piro grabbed a foot stool and slammed it down on Valens' shoulders. The timber joints squeaked in protest. The stool rebounded from her fingers, gone numb from the impact. But Valens did not fall. Instead Springdawn collapsed at his feet.
Valens released the nun and caught Piro's arm, swinging her around. Before she could react, he had her back pressed to his chest, a small dagger digging into her throat just under her right ear.
Piro clenched her fist and drove it into his ribs. She heard him grunt with pain, but his grip didn't slacken as he backed towards the door to the corridor.
His panting and her ragged breathing were the only sounds in the solarium.
Her mother stood absolutely still. 'Let Piro go. I won't call for the guards. Just let her go.'
But Piro knew he wouldn't. He'd touched her, tasted her Affinity. When she was no longer any use to him as a hostage he'd drain her too.
Piro felt him tense as he went to reach for the door. Then he made an odd strangled sound and hot fluid ran over her shoulder, down her arm. She stared at the bright red blood.
Valens released her.
Piro stepped away, turning around to see a gaping tear in his throat under his right ear. Even with one hand clasping the wound, blood pumped between his fingers.
Valens pitched forwards. Piro only just slipped out of the way in time.
Seela came in, shut the door and wiped her dainty little knife on his back, then crossed and pushed it into the coals of the brazier for a moment.
'Fire purifies evil Affinity, remember that, Piro.' This was said in the same tone her nurse had used to remind her to wear her woolen under garments.
Piro couldn't find her voice.
'Thank you, Seela,' her mother whispered.
'Power-workers always forget a knife is just as deadly to them,' Seela remarked. She withdrew the knife, tested the blade for heat, then tucked it into her belt sheath where it had always been kept, ready to peel fresh apples and pears for hungry children.
Piro blinked. The world contracted to a single, bright spot of light reflecting off the knife hilt. She felt the floor come up towards her.
When the mists cleared her hearing returned first.
'There, love,' Seela was saying. 'Just lift your shoulder.'
Her bodice peeled off down both arms and Piro opened her eyes to find she was lying on the day bed near the tiled warming stove.
'This is ready,' her mother said, bringing a bowl of steaming water to the low table.
Seela handed the bloodied bodice to the queen and dipped a cloth in the warm, scented water. She began to sponge Piro's arm and shoulder. 'There, you don't want his nasty blood on you. You're lucky it didn't go through to your chemise.'
Piro bit back the urge to giggle, then struggled to sit up. Valens still lay in a puddle of blood on the floor and… 'Springdawn?'
'Dead. She underestimated him.' The queen held up Piro's bodice. 'Do you think we can save this, Seela?'
'Burn it,' the old nurse advised. 'Burn anything touched by his blood.'
'Of course. What was I thinking?'
'You've had a shock, dear. Send for Autumnwind. He'll have to settle the Affinity released by their deaths and ensure their bodies are properly disposed of.'
'Springdawn's death will have to be reported to the abbess,' the queen said, as she tossed Piro's bodice into the brazier and stirred it until the material caught. 'As for Valens, I don't — '
'Now we can banish Cobalt.' Piro made the connection.
'We can't confront him.' Seela put aside the wet cloth and dried Piro's shoulder. 'He's grown too powerful. Your father has named him Protector of the Castle.'
'But Valens was Cobalt's servant.'
'Cobalt will say he did not know,' the queen pointed out. 'He'll be horrified and terribly sorry.'
Her mother was right, Piro could just imagine Cobalt's reaction. 'But Valens is dead. How do we explain that?'
'I'll remove his belongings. We can say he ran away, back to Ostron Isle because he feared the Merofynians.' Seela winked at Piro. 'You know what cowards, Ostronites are. They never fight, not if they can wheedle their way out of trouble.'
'Cobalt will suspect, but what can he do?' The queen took off her woolen over-wrap and passed it to Piro. 'You'll have to run down to your chamber and put on another bodice.'
Piro tied the wrap. It smelt of her mother's favourite perfume and made her feel warm to the core. She came to her feet. 'Very well. Is there anything I can do to help?'
Seela and her mother exchanged looks.
'Wait down by the stables,' Seela said. 'Rolen still trusts you. If he comes back too soon, distract him until we can get rid of Valens.'
Piro nodded. She didn't ask what they were going to do with the renegade's remains. He would have to be burnt and the ashes sprinkled over water.
'Go by the servants' stairs,' Seela suggested.
Piro stepped over Springdawn's body and through the tapestry.
Back in the solarium she heard someone tap on the door and enter without waiting for a reply. 'Queen Myrella, I — '
Old Lord Steadfast? What did he want?
Piro peered through the chink in the tapestry.
Steadfast had stopped in the doorway, his path blocked by Valens' body. He raised stunned eyes to the queen.
'What's going on, Myrella?' Cobalt asked, his ashen face peering over the old warrior lord's shoulder.
'Thank Halcyon you've come. I was just about to send for help.' Piro's mother did not miss a beat. She crossed the room, having to avoid Springdawn's body to reach them.
'What happened?' Steadfast asked, stepping around Valens' body so that Cobalt could enter the room.
'It's terrible.' The queen wrung her hands. 'I sent for Springdawn because I'd discovered she'd taken a lover. She denied it but Valens admitted it. She took poison and he cut his throat.'
'Who would have thought?' Steadfast muttered.
Cobalt stared at the two bodies, one without a mark, the other lying in a pool of blood. Piro was impressed with her mother's ability to think on her feet.
'I…' The queen reached for Cobalt. 'I don't feel…'
He had to catch her as she fainted.
'The shock,' Steadfast explained knowledgeably, shaking his head in sympathy.
'That's right, poor dear,' Seela agreed. 'It happened so quickly there was nothing we could do. Bring the queen over here, Cobalt.'
As she indicated the day bed, Piro noticed that the bowl which had been used to wash the blood from her shoulder and arm had been returned to the stove. Would Cobalt or Steadfast notice the pink water?
'On second thoughts, Myrella won't want to be near the bodies when she wakes,' Seela muttered. 'Better bring her through to the far chamber.'
And she herded both men out the door into the larger solarium.
Piro leant against the wall, weak-kneed.
Why had Cobalt and Steadfast arrived just when they did? Cobalt's spies must have reported that the queen had sent for his manservant. Whatever Cobalt might suspect, he could not disprove her mother's explanation.
She darted back inside to grab the bowl and slipped out, heading for her bed chamber. It was the work of a moment to tip the bloodied water down the drain at the end of the corridor and leave the bowl with the others waiting to be washed.
Fifteen minutes later, dressed in a completely different outfit — she couldn't stand the thought of wearing anything that Valens had touched — Piro crossed the stable courtyard. Several of Byren's honour guard were strapping travelling kits to their saddles and mounting up.
'Chandler, Winterfall. What are you doing?' Piro asked. Yesterday, when she had delivered the news of Byren's banishment, they had seemed relieved to hear that their vows of service had been annulled.
'We're going after him,' Chandler replied, swinging up into the saddle. His tired but determined eyes met Piro's. 'Byren's loyal to the core. We refuse to believe he's a traitor and we're going to help him.'
Relief made Piro feel light. She touched his boot top, level with her face. 'I'm glad. Watch over him.'
Chandler nodded and the eight of them rode out.
Piro couldn't remember how many honour guards Byren had sworn in but only eight had stood by him. Perhaps it was for the best. Where Byren was going he needed followers who were completely committed.
Piro stayed in the stables until lunch time, by which time she was too hungry to think straight. She hadn't eaten breakfast and was going to miss lunch, and still there was no sign of her father. Knowing him, he was probably treating himself to roast beef and potatoes in one of Rolenton's rich merchant's homes. There was time for her to snatch some food. When the king came back, she wanted to be sure he saw her mother and Seela first, not Cobalt. She headed for the kitchen, begging some extra scraps for her foenix.
Settling in with him she shared her lunch. Glad of the foenix's uncritical company, she whispered her fears to him. 'So I don't know what Father's going to say when he hears Valens has killed himself.'
The foenix made a soft, sympathetic noise in his throat as though he understood.
'Piro, are you there?' Seela scurried into the menagerie.
Piro came to her feet.
Seela looked relieved. 'Your mother wants you.'
Piro dropped the last of the crumbs for the foenix and hurried over to her old nurse.
'Is everything all right? Did Cobalt suspect? I overheard him arrive,' she explained. 'Mother was so quick to invent that lovers' story.'
'It was not invention.' Seela looked grim. 'Something very like that happened not forty years ago in the Merofynian court. Still, Cobalt was suspicious.'
Piro smiled. 'Even if he is, what can he do?'
'Cause trouble. He has a gift for it,' the old nurse muttered as she hurried down a corridor. 'You've been taking your dreamless-sleep, haven't you?'
'Yes.' Piro only half-lied. 'Why?'
Seela didn't answer. Piro went to take the quickest route to her mother's solarium but Seela caught her arm, urging her to the left.
'Why are we — '
'Nightmares?' Seela asked, panting a little.
'Some,' Piro admitted. With the unistag gone the only surviving Affinity beast in the menagerie was the foenix, and he was too small to absorb much of her power, so it had been building up again. Too much dreamless-sleep made her feel listless and groggy the next day, and too little could not keep the nightmares at bay. She preferred nightmares to feeling half-alive.
'We're going to write down your dreams so Autumnwind can try to interpret them,' Seela explained. 'You were right about the threat to Rolen, even if you had the wrong source.'
Piro felt relieved to be taken seriously at last. They hurried up the servants' stairs to the rear entrance of the solarium. Male voices sounded muffled through the tapestry-covered opening. Seela froze. Piro almost collided with her.
Seela signalled for silence.
Piro recognised Cobalt's voice and her stomach knotted. Other voices joined him.
Seela peered through the gap in the tapestry. 'Cobalt, and he's with several of Lence's honour guard, boys who have more ambition than sense, if I'm not mistaken,' she whispered. 'You stay here.'
Before Piro could protest, Seela bustled through the tapestry hanging, entering the room beyond.
'Here, what's this all about, young Illien?' the nurse demanded.
'He has come to arrest me, Seela,' Queen Myrella said, her voice rich with scorn.