'Byren!' With a yell she set off after him. Heads turned.
He spun around, saw her racing across the cobbles and gave that crooked grin that made one dimple appear in his cheek.
She laughed, throwing herself at him. He caught her around the waist, lifting her into the air and swinging her around. She loved it.
Effortlessly, he set her down. 'Uh. You're getting too big for this, Piro!'
'I don't even come up to your shoulder!' She laughed.
'I meant too old.'
She ignored that. The longer she could put off growing up, the better. Being a grown woman meant always behaving with decorum and a thousand restrictions that would drive her mad. No, she'd fight every step of the way. Why limit herself, when she'd rather be out riding with Byren than sitting in her mother's solarium balancing the castle's books or cross-checking the kingdom's laws? 'What are you doing back already, Byren?' She nodded to Orrade and grinned at Garzik. 'So your father finally let you out without a nursemaid, Garza? Where's Elina? What happened to your head, Orrie?'
The three of them exchanged looks and Orrade fingered the bandage.
'A branch fell on me,' Orrade said. 'Elina's not well. She may not come to the midwinter ceremony.'
'Oh, no.' Piro didn't try to hide her disappointment. 'What's wrong with her?'
Orrade opened his mouth but nothing came out.
'Piro?' Byren frowned at her. 'What are you doing running around Rolenton like a seamstress's apprentice on half-day? Mother wouldn't approve. Where is she by the way? Have you snuck away again?'
'Not this time,' Piro admitted then saw his expression. 'Oh, don't be angry with me, Byren. It's such a pain being expected to behave like a — '
He looked past her. 'Tell that to Mother. Here she comes!'
Piro winced but the queen only had eyes for her son, as she swept towards them.
'Byren, it is you!' Queen Myrella grabbed his vest and pulled his face down to hers, planting a kiss on each cheek. Then she stepped back beaming. Only a single stray curl revealed how she must have thrown off her head- dress to dart after Piro. She smiled at the two Dovecote brothers. 'Orrade. And Garzik, how you've grown! I trust your father is well.'
'Well enough,' Orrade answered stiffly.
The queen touched his bandage briefly. 'What happened to you, Orrie? Are you all right?'
'A small head wound. It's nothing.'
'That must have given your father a fright. Where is he?'
'What are you doing, Mother, strolling around Rolenton without the honour guard?' Byren chided. 'You're setting a bad example for Piro. No wonder she's half-wild!'
The townspeople, who watched them at a respectful distance, smiled as the queen laughed like a carefree girl. It wasn't as if they needed a guard in their own home town.
'Lence took the guard to get an ale while we did our shopping,' the queen explained.
'Oh, I'm so glad to see you, Byren,' Piro announced. 'You can take me down to the wharfs to watch the sled ships.'
'You're just glad to see me because you hate shopping,' he teased, then grew serious. 'Mother, have you heard from Winterfall or the Royal Ingeniator?'
'No. Is something wrong?'
'We found a new seep, but don't worry. They're sending for sorbt stones and the Affinity warders will control it.'
'Queen Myrella,' Orrade began. 'There's something you should know. I've — '
'Queen Myrella!' An old woman threw off her hood, shuffling out of the crowd to confront them. Even though her voice was little more than a rasp, it carried on the cold, still air. 'Queen Myrella, true heir to Merofynia, heed my words!'
Byren swore under his breath. Piro glanced to him. Why was he worried? An old woman couldn't hurt them, could she?
'Be off with you!' He went to drive her away.
'Byren,' the queen protested. Piro knew their mother always listened to the poorest of their kingdom. That's why the people of Rolencia loved her, even though she was the daughter of a Merofynian king.
But when the queen took a good look at the old woman, her face went slack with shock. Was this someone from her mother's past, Piro wondered, a Merofynian palace servant, who had come down in the world?
Byren gestured. 'Be off with you, old — '
The woman silenced him with a single piercing look.
The laughter died on Piro's lips as the woman dropped her staff and stiffened, her eyes rolling back in her head.
Since Piro became a woman at autumn cusp unwanted Affinity had been growing in her, so she had no trouble recognising it at work now. Tension made the very air taste strange and Piro's vision blurred. She blinked repeatedly until she realised she was seeing the shift caused by Unseen power acting on the Seen world.
Piro went very still, like a deer startled by a predator. A seer with renegade Affinity — her secret would be revealed and she would be sent away like Fyn!
'You live a lie, Queen Myrella, queen of lies!' The old woman shrieked.
Discovering she was not the object of the old seer's prediction, Piro relaxed fractionally. Her mother took a step back, colliding with Byren who steadied her.
'Your lies will be the downfall of Rolencia and the death of those you love. You think you're safe but one rotten apple turns the rest!' Blind-to-the-seen-world eyes turned to Piro. She felt sure this seer would recognise her growing Affinity and denounce her.
'Like mother, like daughter!' the old woman wheezed. 'Do not make the same mistake — '
'Filthy untamed Affinity!' Lence swore, thrusting through the crowd. A dozen young honour guards wearing the symbol of the royal house of Rolencia followed him. Rich red foenixes, their scales picked out in gold thread, gleamed against the black background of the surcoats.
'Be silent, Utland Power-worker!' Lence ordered.
The old woman's trance left her and she cast him one swift glance before fixing Piro with urgent jet-black eyes, stumbling towards her. 'Piro Myrella Queensdaughter, don't deny your — '
Piro smelt death on the old woman. It turned her stomach and she pulled back instinctively.
'Here, leave m'sister alone!' With one shove Lence sent the Power-worker flying across the swept cobbles.
She hit the wall of the Three Swans Inn and collapsed in a snowdrift, her head at an odd angle.
Piro stared, stunned. The old seer was dead.
Now she could never reveal Piro's secret. A surge of relief filled her, followed swiftly by guilt as she turned on Lence. 'You killed her!'
He lifted his large hands, looking down at them as if surprised by what he had done. Like Byren he was a head taller than most men, but he had a deep barrel chest and the arms of a blacksmith.
Lence grimaced and wiped his hand on his thigh. Revulsion twisted his handsome lips. 'She shouldn't have brought her filthy untamed Affinity into Rolencia!'
Dismay swamped Piro. Would Lence dismiss her as quickly if he knew about her Affinity? 'But she was just an old woman. She wasn't even a very good seer!'
It was true. Piro was nothing like her mother.
'Hush, Piro,' the queen whispered. She looked ill. 'Lence did the right thing. We cannot have — '
'But she should have been arrested and given the choice of banishment or death,' Piro insisted. 'That's the law. You're always making me memorise the law.'
'Enough, Piro. It's for the best,' Byren urged. His attention was on their mother, who was visibly wavering as if her legs might give way. He slid an arm around her shoulder. 'Come sit down, mother.'
Orrade took her other arm.
'Uh, Orrie, Garza. Didn't see you there,' Lence muttered, then looked about eagerly. 'Where's Elina?'
'She's sick,' Garzik whispered, still staring at the seer.
