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.
Like him, Queen Myrella stared at the old woman's body, which lay abandoned like an empty husk.
Piro shuddered. She had never seen violent death. Surely the seer knew the laws of Rolencia? What had been so important that she risked death to warn them? Piro tried to remember what had been said to her mother, something about living a lie because she was the true heir to Merofynia and this would cause Rolencia to fall and her loved ones to die.
Impossible. Rolencia was strong, so strong that when her mother's younger brother, King Sefon, died seven summers ago, her parents had decided not to get involved in Merofynia's civil war, not because they couldn't have ridden into Merofynia and taken the throne, but because they didn't want to waste the blood of young Rolencians on foreign soil.
Piro licked dry lips. How could avoiding war cause death?
She shuddered, glad the old seer hadn't had a chance to betray her Affinity. Perversely, though, Piro wished she could have heard the rest of the old woman's prophecy, if only to discover how mistaken she was. Rotten fruit, what next?
Lence turned to one of the honour guard. 'Fetch the Affinity warders and get rid of the body.'
They would burn the old woman then scatter her ashes over water, saying the words to dispel her power. It was the only way to be sure that no taint of her untamed Affinity lingered.
'You.' Byren beckoned another of the honour guard. He still supported their mother, who looked lost and distracted. 'I need you to borrow a carriage to take my mother and sister back to the castle.'
A clattering of hooves made them turn. Astride his sturdy roan, King Rolen bore down on them, the crowd parting hurriedly.
'Father!' Now Piro knew everything would be all right.
Taking in the situation, King Rolen swung his leg over the horse and dropped to the ground with a grunt, the landing jarring all his old wounds. Piro winced for him. Her father had been growing stiffer recently. But he still radiated the energy that had saved their kingdom from invasion thirty years ago.
'Myrella, are you all right?' he demanded, enfolding the queen's small frame in his arms. Byren stepped back while their mother assured the king that she was fine. Their father looked to Lence. 'What happened?'
'Mother and Piro were assaulted by a renegade Power-worker,' Lence spoke up. 'I dealt with her.' He gestured to the body, which the honour guard had yet to remove.
King Rolen's heavy brow gathered in a frown. Piro knew that look. Now there would be trouble. Ever since his own father and elder brother had been killed by renegade Power-workers on the battlefield, her father had set out to eradicate everyone with untamed Affinity from Rolencia.
'Right.' King Rolen began roaring orders.
Piro marvelled. Within a matter of moments, a carriage had been found and she and her mother were bustled into it. As they tucked the blankets around their legs and adjusted the heated bricks, she overheard her father telling Byren, 'It's just as well you're back early. We've had a complaint about a rogue leogryf that's taken to preying on the villagers up near the pass to Foenix Spar. You and Lence can handle it.'
Piro peered out the carriage window. She had never seen a live leogryf.
'Can I go too?' Garzik demanded. Then remembered his manners and dropped to one knee, placing a hand over his heart. 'I mean, I offer my service — '
Her father laughed, hauling him to his feet. 'Of course you can. We need every able-bodied man, even if he is not much more than a boy!'
Garzik looked as if he was torn between being pleased or slightly affronted.
King Rolen turned to Orrade. 'What happened to your head, lad?'
'Took a fall. King Rolen, I — '
'How's the old Dove, feisty as ever?'
Orrade nodded and went to speak, but the king turned away to deal with his honour guard and the disposal of the seer's body.
The carriage gave a jolt and began to rattle over the cobbles so Piro saw no more.
'It's not fair,' she muttered. There was Garzik, only a year and a bit older than her and he was allowed to go hunting with Lence and Byren, but she never would. She sighed. Right now she was heading for the safety and boredom of the castle while Byren and Lence went off on the king's business. The high point of her day was seeing a feather that glowed in the dark and even then she'd been let down. 'Why can't I go with Byren and Lence?'
Her mother's distracted gaze drifted across the carriage as if she was seeing something beyond its panelled walls.
'Why can't I go?' Piro insisted. 'I would love to see a leogryf. I'd be no trouble.'
The queen blinked.
Piro frowned. What was wrong with her mother? By now she should be lecturing her on the proper behaviour for a kingsdaughter.
It was that renegade Power-worker.
Startled and dismayed, Piro slid off her seat, dropping to her knees on the floor of the carriage and taking her mother's hands in hers to offer comfort. 'Don't worry, Mother, that… that…'
But she could not do it. She could not form the words to speak of the old seer.
The queen's luminous, obsidian eyes focused on Piro. A sense of imminence filled Piro and her heart quickened.
'That…' her mother stumbled then, as she forged on, Piro felt a shiver of relief. 'That seer!'
'Yes!' Piro nodded. 'She pretended to be a seer but she had no idea. Everything she said was wrong.'
Distress tightened her mother's features. The queen's lips worked and her chin trembled as if she was holding back tears or fury.
'What is it?' Piro whispered, empathy making her skin prickle. She felt as if her mother was about to reveal something vitally important.
The queen pressed her fingers to her mouth, took a shuddering breath then shook her head. She tucked a strand of hair behind Piro's ear. 'It's nothing.'
But it wasn't. Piro pulled back to sit on her seat. Something the old seer had said had disturbed her mother deeply.
Surely nothing could threaten Rolencia, not while her father held the kingdom together. At nearly fifty he was getting old, but in Lence and Byren he had strong warriors to defend Rolencia from beasts, spar warlords and Utland raiders.
It was probably the part about loved ones dying that worried her mother. After all, anyone could fall from a horse and break their neck like poor Uncle Sefon had, or catch a cold that went to the chest. And Lence and Byren were always facing danger. If their ongoing joke about who was due to save the other's life could be believed, they could have died a dozen times these last five years.
An image came to Piro, a body in the snow. In her mind's eye she dropped to her knees turning the body over, fearing the worst. But it was not Byren or Lence. It was Fyn.
She almost retched.
Stop it, she told herself. Fyn is safe with Halcyon's monks. It would break her heart if anything happened to any of her brothers but, despite the time he had spent at the abbey, she was closest to Fyn.
That image had to be the product of her over active imagination. She was not a seer — her growing Affinity had shown no sign of developing in that direction. Thank the goddess!
Suddenly afraid she'd betrayed herself, Piro focused on her mother. The queen stared distractedly out the window as the carriage climbed the steep road that repeatedly turned back on itself before reaching the gates of Rolenhold. Good, her mother hadn't noticed.
As if sensing her scrutiny, the queen met her eyes.
'Why do you look so worried, Piro?' she asked. 'Is something wrong?'
'What? No.' Piro looked down, adjusting the blanket over her knees. If she admitted her unwanted Affinity her parents would have to gift her to Sylion abbey. She'd be shut up with hundreds of other women, forced to worship the cold god of winter when she loved the sun and laughter. 'Nothing's wrong. Nothing at all.'
