“Yes, I’m early,” Arcolin said. “And this is Kaim, my squire. Count Halar’s son.”
“Surely you’re hungry, a tall lad like you,” she said to Kaim. “I’ve baking fresh from this morning.”
Kaim looked at Arcolin. “Go ahead,” Arcolin said. “I should go to the palace now, but I won’t need you—bring your horse along later.” To Calla’s father: “They’ll take them at the palace—no need for them to be eating your fodder.”
At the palace, he met Duke Marrakai in the courtyard. “Did you hear the news?”
“I sent some news—is this about the Gnarrinfulk gnomes?”
“No … the dragon. The dragon came to Mikeli and told him Camwyn is still alive but has no memory of his past. Mikeli … Well, you were not here all summer; you do not know how it’s been. He blamed himself, though we all knew it was not his fault. He was sure Camwyn had died and the dragon had chosen not to tell him. Now … he is grieved, of course, that his brother has no memory but rejoices that he lives.”
“Where is Camwyn? Here?”
“No. Somewhere in the dragon’s care. The dragon said it would be a long, slow process—that Camwyn can now walk a little but must relearn everything he learned as a child. Mikeli agreed not to search for him; the dragon promises a good future.”
“Any more iynisin problems?”
“None. Thank Gird and Falk and all the gods there are. Of course we have other problems, magery not least among them. Mikeli let us read your courier’s letter … Did you get to see Elorran?”
“Yes. And he does have the scars you mentioned all over the side of his head, and one eye’s gone. The other’s blind now. A sad case. They keep him tied upright in a chair by day and locked in at night. His steward’s done his best, but with no help from Elorran—not even a sensible word from day to day—he’s struggled to keep the holding together.”
“Do you think it was magery?”
“How could it be magery?”
“I don’t mean an injury made by magery—but an attack by someone who thought he had magery. Or maybe he did and they wanted to destroy it.”
“But who?”
“Someone in the family. Afraid of having it known.”
Arcolin shuddered. “That kind of fear … that hatred … it hasn’t saved us from real dangers, like iynisin or blood mages. It’s just made people kill and hurt those who have done nothing wrong.”
“Indeed. Come to us for dinner while you’re in the city. Oh—and Gwenno’s now in the Bells and wildly happy about it. Now the older of the Mahieran girls at home is clamoring to train there. I don’t suppose you want a girl squire …?”
“No,” Arcolin said. “Not one in the royal family, anyway.”
When he reached the king’s office, the king did look less strained than he had before. “You sent good news, Duke Arcolin.”
“I just heard better news from Duke Marrakai,” Arcolin said. “Prince Camwyn alive—”
“Yes. Though not likely to return. However, at Midsummer Court, the Council—in your absence but with, I told them, your concurrence—agreed to Rothlin’s marriage to Ganlin of Kostandan when she has finished her training. Roth is happy, and I am momentarily off the hook where marriage is concerned, though I expect the nudging and winking will start again soon.”
“Do you want to marry?”
Mikeli sighed. “Yes, but not with all the trouble it takes, on top of other troubles. You didn’t marry for years, possibly for some of the same reasons. When Queen Arian was visiting … well … a queen like that would brighten the whole palace. But she was not happy here, though she was courteous about it. So there’s a tangle: if the kind of woman I feel attracted to dislikes the life I must lead—and she must lead—then by marrying her I make her unhappy. I don’t want to do that.” He shook his head.
“I hope you don’t have to wait as long as I did,” Arcolin said.
“At least you didn’t have people nagging you about it from the moment your mother died,” Mikeli said.
Chapter Thirty-five
Dorrin roused to the feel of hot sun on her back and legs and uncomfortably hard lumps under her. She opened salt-crusted eyes—they stung, and she blinked repeatedly—to see in front of her a glare of sunlit sand and … under and immediately around her body … a dazzle of jewels, most blue and white. More jewels than she had carried with her, more jewels than she had imagined existed.