if you’ll be able to work any magic at all when this is over and you stop getting so much Traditional power focusing on you. But there are a number of simple spells I can teach you that you’ll be able to use now, and there is a great deal of information I have that you need. If you have the native ability, which I think you do, I can also train you to see magic—that is, the power twisted into spells that are on things and people.” Her smile broadened. “It won’t hurt. You already know a great deal about The Tradition. And if it happens that you do become a Godmother, well, that is even better, if you ask me. It’sbeen a long time since a Queen was also a Godmother, but if any kingdom needs two, it’s this one.”
Rosa’s smile was rueful; after the initial moment of excitement wore off, she realized just how much more complicated her already complicated life was about to become. “I wish I didn’t agree with you so much.”
When the carriage pulled in through the gates of the Palace, it was practically mobbed. When Lily was handed down, the crowd became so quiet that Rosa heard the cooing of the pigeons on the roof above them, and the scuffling of feet in the gravel as people in the crowd moved restlessly.
But when she turned without saying a word, and Rosa herself stepped down, the crowd erupted in a roar.
Lily merely smiled, sphinxlike, waited for a few moments and motioned to her footman. The footman handed her into the carriage, and she drove off. The two Princes sat on their horses, the dark one looking disgruntled, perhaps because he hadn’t gotten the credit for a rescue, the blond one looking lost.
Rosa remembered what her mother had done in situations like this and made the same hand motions Queen Celeste had to ask for quiet. It worked for her as well as it had for her mother; she got instant quiet—not quite dead silence, but more than enough for her to be heard. “I know you are all wondering what happened, and how I came to vanish. On my way to my quarters on the day of the great storm, I was attacked in the passage nearest the stables,” she said, in a firm, clear voice. As those around her gasped, she continued quickly, “Whoever it was meant to kill me, for I saw the flash of a knife in his hands. I did not see my assailant’s face—he must have been wearing a hood or a mask. I fled, hoping to find a Guardsman or a footman, with my attacker in hot pursuit. I saw a horse standing ready, and I did not even think. I simply flung myself into the saddle and rode for my life. I intended to try to pull up once outside thegates, but the horse was too strong, and ran away with me. Once we were deep inside the forest, he was frightened by something, and threw me, and I landed hard and fainted. The thunderstorm revived me. I found a cave and lived on the mushrooms and berries I found until the Godmother found me again, for I was mindful of what my mother had taught me.”
The last was an outright lie, and she hoped that it wouldn’t lead to a problem later. Well, that was more or less what she probably would have done if the Dwarves hadn’t found her first. And she didn’t want to mention the Dwarves. She had the feeling they would be very bad enemies. Better to let them fester in their hovel, never knowing who they had played host to, eking out a bare existence from their wretched mine, at least until their law-abiding kin found them.
She glanced at the Princes. If they were a little confused about her version of the story—or at least, as much of it as they knew—they didn’t show it. They were, in fact, waiting very politely and quietly. And since the Mirror Servant had advised that they be kept around, she wove them into her story, too.
“We encountered these gentlemen on the road, who had learned of my plight and were searching for me. Because of such gallantry, the Godmother advised that they be rewarded. We offered them the hospitality of the Palace, therefore I beg you show
Rosa’s smile was rueful; after the initial moment of excitement wore off, she realized just how much more complicated her already complicated life was about to become. “I wish I didn’t agree with you so much.”
When the carriage pulled in through the gates of the Palace, it was practically mobbed. When Lily was handed down, the crowd became so quiet that Rosa heard the cooing of the pigeons on the roof above them, and the scuffling of feet in the gravel as people in the crowd moved restlessly.
But when she turned without saying a word, and Rosa herself stepped down, the crowd erupted in a roar.
Lily merely smiled, sphinxlike, waited for a few moments and motioned to her footman. The footman handed her into the carriage, and she drove off. The two Princes sat on their horses, the dark one looking disgruntled, perhaps because he hadn’t gotten the credit for a rescue, the blond one looking lost.
Rosa remembered what her mother had done in situations like this and made the same hand motions Queen Celeste had to ask for quiet. It worked for her as well as it had for her mother; she got instant quiet—not quite dead silence, but more than enough for her to be heard. “I know you are all wondering what happened, and how I came to vanish. On my way to my quarters on the day of the great storm, I was attacked in the passage nearest the stables,” she said, in a firm, clear voice. As those around her gasped, she continued quickly, “Whoever it was meant to kill me, for I saw the flash of a knife in his hands. I did not see my assailant’s face—he must have been wearing a hood or a mask. I fled, hoping to find a Guardsman or a footman, with my attacker in hot pursuit. I saw a horse standing ready, and I did not even think. I simply flung myself into the saddle and rode for my life. I intended to try to pull up once outside thegates, but the horse was too strong, and ran away with me. Once we were deep inside the forest, he was frightened by something, and threw me, and I landed hard and fainted. The thunderstorm revived me. I found a cave and lived on the mushrooms and berries I found until the Godmother found me again, for I was mindful of what my mother had taught me.”
The last was an outright lie, and she hoped that it wouldn’t lead to a problem later. Well, that was more or less what she probably would have done if the Dwarves hadn’t found her first. And she didn’t want to mention the Dwarves. She had the feeling they would be very bad enemies. Better to let them fester in their hovel, never knowing who they had played host to, eking out a bare existence from their wretched mine, at least until their law-abiding kin found them.
She glanced at the Princes. If they were a little confused about her version of the story—or at least, as much of it as they knew—they didn’t show it. They were, in fact, waiting very politely and quietly. And since the Mirror Servant had advised that they be kept around, she wove them into her story, too.
“We encountered these gentlemen on the road, who had learned of my plight and were searching for me. Because of such gallantry, the Godmother advised that they be rewarded. We offered them the hospitality of the Palace, therefore I beg you show
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