The Shadow Queen (38 page)

“Open the box,” Theran said. “Maybe there’s an explanation.”

Gray wiped his hands on his trousers to clean off some of the dirt. Then he took the box and set it on the freshly turned earth, which made Theran wonder why he’d bothered to wipe off his hands.

The box had a simple hook closure, so whatever was inside couldn’t be valuable. Or it meant that no one would be foolish enough to take anything from a box that had the SaDiablo seal.

Gray opened the box. He sat back on his heels. He lifted one Craft-preserved flower out of the box. Then another—and another until he was holding a bouquet.

“There’s a note and a book in there,” Theran said, looking into the box. “And something else.”

Handing the bouquet to Theran, Gray opened the note.

“ ‘Prince Gray,’ ” Gray read.

“Maybe I should give him a hand?”

Cassidy sounded doubtful. Was she trying to back away from Gray? She
had
been acting a bit skittish about being around him. At first Gray had been pleased about that, but that had changed more and more as the hoped-for letter didn’t arrive.

“I was going to come out and work in the garden, but Ranon is going back to his home village for a couple of days, and he and Powell said there was something urgent I needed to do before Ranon left, but they weren’t clear about what that was, and said I should talk to you.”

Theran tossed a psychic thread toward Ranon. *Next time you decide to be helpful, give me some warning.*

*We gave her a reason to come looking for you instead of Gray, so figure out why she’s supposed to be stuck at a desk for the next few hours.*

Go piss yourself.
He didn’t say it, but the feeling traveled through the link between them—and the feeling was quite mutual.

What could he ask her to do that had to be done before Ranon left?

They were on the terrace and almost to the door before he had an answer.

“The Shalador Queens,” Theran said. “You need to write a letter inviting the Queens on the Shalador reserves to meet you. Ranon will take the letter when he goes back to his village. That’s why it’s urgent.”

“You don’t want me to contact the Queens in Dena Nehele,” Cassidy said. “You’ve opposed that suggestion every time I’ve made it.”

“Seemed more important for the court to adjust to working with each other. Now . . .” He shrugged.

“You really want me to contact the Queens on the reserves?”

“Yes, I do.”
Besides,
he added silently,
it’s not likely any of them will come.

He opened the door for her. “Come on. Once you wade through the paperwork Powell seems to create overnight, you’ll be free the rest of the day to save the posies from the nasty weeds.”

She stopped in the doorway and looked at him as if she suddenly saw a different man.

“You don’t have a feel for the land, do you?” she asked. “It’s just dirt and boundaries to you.”

“I don’t fuss over it like you and Gray seem to,” he said dismissively. “It’s the people that matter. It’s the people that need tending.”

“How do you take care of one without taking care of the other?”

Since she didn’t wait for him to answer, he guessed she didn’t expect one.

 

Gray set the items in the box on the potting bench, one by one, and marveled at this gift.

Cassie’s mother had written this book. Cassie’s mother had sent this box. No hasty reply to his letter, but a bundle of information from a woman who seemed to understand that he was hoping to put down roots in her daughter’s heart.

And the flowers, preserved in shields so he could study them at his leisure.

His own mother had given him a fierce kind of love. He didn’t know if it was because she was unable to be soft, or if because he’d been destined for the killing fields, she hadn’t wanted to give him anything a warrior wouldn’t need.

He could still see her face, filled with hard pride, on the evening when Talon came to take him to the mountain camps. He’d been seven years old, but there had been no tears, no hugs. To her, he was already a warrior. To her, he always had been.

He didn’t think Cassie’s mother was a fierce woman. Didn’t mean she couldn’t be dangerous if there was need, but he thought, maybe, she’d be the kind of woman who wouldn’t be afraid to hug a boy.

Was his mother still alive? Did she know how to find him—if she wanted to find him?

He hadn’t wondered until now. Maybe Powell, being the Steward of the court, would know how to find out.

A knock on the shed’s door. He used Craft to vanish the box before the door opened and Ranon walked in.

The Shalador Warlord Prince glanced at the empty potting bench.

“None of my business,” Ranon said, “but I saw the box this morning. Well, a few of us did, and we wondered. . . .”

Gray called in the box and showed Ranon what Devra had sent to him.

“Look at this one,” Ranon said, picking up one of the cuttings. “It’s got one flower open and one still in the bud. Maybe that’s why it took her a few days to send a reply. She must have waited for some of these flowers to bloom so she could send them to you.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

Ranon set the cutting down. “Look, Gray, planting this bed is going to be a lot of work.”

“I know.”

“When are you planning to do this?”

“I’ll need a few days to study the book and select the plants that will work best in the place I’ve cleared. Then I’ll need to see what I can find.”

Ranon nodded. “I’m heading to my village, but I’ll be back in a couple of days. Three at the most. When you’re ready to plant, I’d like to help. Shira said she’d help too. And I think there are a couple of other men in the First Circle who would be willing to help.”

Gray studied Ranon, seeing more than a Warlord Prince who seemed to rub against Theran the wrong way.

“You liked Yaslana, didn’t you?”

Ranon gave him a considering look. “That one scares the shit out of me, but I’d follow him into battle without a doubt or second thought.”

“Thanks for the offer,” Gray said. “I’ll figure out the planting day and let you know.”

Ranon smiled and walked to the shed door. Then he paused. “Shira wanted me to ask. Are you the reason Cassidy isn’t sleeping well?”

Gray grinned.

After a moment Ranon laughed. “Good for you, Gray. Good for you.”

Cassidy sat on the edge of her bed, fingering the key she’d found in the old wish pot—something she’d done every day, hoping the key would provide some clue to the treasure that was supposed to exist on the estate. Of course, her mind wasn’t on treasure. Not tonight. Her mind was on . . .

“Lia and Thera, your male descendants are a pain in the ass.”

At least Theran and Gray could share the blame for her being unable to sleep tonight. Theran had run hot and cold all morning—wanting her to write to the Shalador Queens and then being opposed to her writing to any of the other Queens who must have heard by now that there was a Territory Queen to whom they owed allegiance. Then this evening, Gray had just run . . . hot. But not hot enough to do more than kissing and petting. Not hot enough to go to his room and make use of his bed.

But that could be Lucivar’s fault because at one point this evening, when Gray pulled away because what he really needed was
more
, he had snarled something about writing to Daemon to find out if he
really
had to follow that stupid schedule.

She hadn’t met Daemon before the dinner party, but she’d spent enough time around Lucivar to know the Eyrien wouldn’t hesitate to give Gray a few bruises if Gray didn’t stay within the boundaries Lucivar had set. So until Daemon convinced Lucivar to alter the rules, she wasn’t going to ask Gray for more.

Wasn’t sure she’d have the courage to ask for more anyway.

Doesn’t matter who decided what,
she thought sourly as she turned the key over and over.
It still means another sleepless night.

A scratching on her suite’s door. She got up to let Vae in, mostly because the sofa in her sitting room was a comfortable place to brood.

*Cassie? Cassie! You are not sleeping. Why aren’t you sleeping? It is sleep time. Everyone is sleeping. Except Talon. But it is not his sleep time.*

Cassidy barely had time to settle into a corner of the sofa before Vae was beside her, pressing close.

“You need to be brushed,” Cassidy said, noticing how much loose fur was now coating her trousers.

*I will nip Theran tomorrow,* Vae said. *Then he will brush me.*

*You have smells,* Vae said happily.

Cassidy was about to remind Vae that it wasn’t polite to talk about human smells—especially the female kind. Then she realized the Sceltie was focused on the key in her hand.

“It’s a key,Vae. It’s made of metal. It doesn’t have smells.”

Vae sniffed the key again, jumped off the sofa, and trotted into the bedroom. *I will find the smells.*

“You do that.” If the dog was hunting for nonexistent smells, at least she’d stay out of trouble. Maybe.

Keeping one ear cocked toward the bedroom in case Vae began rummaging where she shouldn’t, Cassidy slumped in the corner of the sofa, feeling frustrated and wrung out.

Sometimes when Gray kissed her, she knew she was being kissed—and held—by a grown man. But other times, she felt like she was kissing a fifteen-year-old boy who was fumbling through his first exploration of a female body. And in some ways she was. But she wasn’t fifteen anymore, and those times when he seemed more boy than man made her uncomfortable.

And yet she couldn’t back away from the intimacy or end the relationship altogether, because her heart recognized something in Gray that she had never felt with or for any other man.

*Cassie?*

Maybe it was for the best that Lucivar had set such firm boundaries around what Gray could—and couldn’t—do in terms of sex. Physically she was ready—more than ready—for
more.
Emotionally . . .

*Cassie!*

“What?” She felt frustrated and snappish, and her voice proclaimed her mood.

*I found the smells.*

“What smells?”

*The smells that match the key.*

Cassidy tangled her legs and almost fell off the sofa in her haste to get to the bedroom.

She didn’t see anything messed up or displaced. She also didn’t see a Sceltie.

“Vae?”

*Here! The smells are here!*

“Where?”

The tip of Vae’s tail suddenly stuck out from under her bed, wagged at her, then disappeared again.

Cassidy hurried to the bed, dropped to the floor, and lifted the bedcovers. “Get out of there before you get stuck.”