The Reluctant Queen (The Queens of Renthia #2)(100)
"Then why risk-"
"You must learn. And you must learn fast. It should be safe enough, since you will be doing the bulk of the actual work. Stretch out your mind with me . . ."
Naelin reached out with her mind-and this time, she felt . . . She had no words for it, but it felt like a breeze beside her. She drifted with the breeze, touching lightly the spirits around the palace. Chasing the breeze, she followed it to see . . .
A grove.
A barren grove, but distorted, as if she were looking at it through a sheen of raindrops. She saw it from above, below, and various angles all at once, so that the barren patch was warped.
"Touch as many tree spirits as you can. Suggest they may be hungry."
Reaching out, Naelin pushed the thoughts out wide: Hungry? Food? Grow?
With a cry, the spirits flocked to the barren patch. First a few, then more, then even more until there were dozens of them diving into the earth and then rising up, pulling new trees with them: nut trees and fruit trees . . . In mere seconds, the patch was alive again and filled with ripened nuts and fruits. Naelin felt the spirits begin to feast.
The queen released her hands. "Do you feel tired?"
"No." She should feel something-that had been a lot of spirits-but she didn't. In fact, she felt amazing, as if her blood had been replaced with chocolate. She felt herself smile. "You?"
"I didn't black out, and no one died." The queen regarded Naelin for a moment, a smile creeping onto her own face. "Shall we do it again?"
This time, Naelin took the queen's hands.
Chapter 25
Erian placed the pieces of the miyan set on the board. Each piece had been carved out of a different beautiful stone: jade, quartz, and other stones she couldn't name. One had a lightning pattern of yellow. Another had pink flecks. Mama had said it cost a fortune and it wasn't for children to play with.
But breaking that rule was a lot better than letting Llor run free. It had taken him less than two hours after they'd discovered they had no guards to find the dumbwaiter that led to the kitchen, the back route to the armory, and an open window that led to the greenhouse. Erian was tired of chasing after him.
"If you don't sit still," Erian told him, "I'm going to ask Mama to tie you to a chair."
"She won't do it," Llor said. "And if you make me play, I'm going to cheat."
"If you cheat, I'll tell the palace guards."
"If you tell the guards, I'll put a frog in your bed."
"If you put a frog in my bed, I'll scream. And then the guards will come again."
Llor fidgeted in his seat. "But miyan is so boring."
"Not if you don't cheat."
He picked up one of the pieces and made it gallop across the board and then bash another piece. "Pow, pow, pow."
"Put that down." She finished setting out the pieces. She thought that was how they went, arrayed in semicircles, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure. She picked up the jade piece again and scowled at it.
"If Father was here, he'd play hide-and-seek with me."
Erian felt her throat thicken, as if she'd swallowed something gummy. "Well, he's not, and you're stuck with me. Besides, Mama hates hide-and-seek. She likes to know where we are." She blinked fast so she wouldn't cry. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry. She had to be strong, for Mama.
He muttered so low that Erian wasn't sure she heard him correctly: "You're boring."
He's so . . . so . . . argh! She slammed the miyan piece onto the board, and its arm chipped off and flew across the room. Both of them watched the sliver of jade fly. It landed on the carpet by the hearth.
"Ooh," Llor said. "I didn't do it."
The door to their chambers swung open. "Didn't do what?" a woman asked.
Both Erian and Llor jumped off their chairs. "Captain Alet!" Game forgotten, they flew to the guard. Llor reached her first and hurled himself at her, hugging her neck. Erian followed behind. She wanted to hug her too but wasn't sure whether that was okay or not. Then Captain Alet held out her free arm toward Erian, and Erian threw her arms around the guardswoman. She smelled like metal and rusty copper. Erian wrinkled her nose.
"Have you been fighting spirits?" Llor asked.
"Not today, little warrior. But I have been out in the capital, taking care of a few things for the queen. Just got back and thought I'd see if my two favorite warriors were hungry."
Erian's stomach growled, as if on cue. "We had breakfast, but . . ." It had been before the funeral, and Erian hadn't felt like eating much. And then Mama had disappeared for more training, leaving them alone. Or as alone as we can be in a palace stuffed with strangers.