“I hope she would. I think of her every day.” She rose, and the gesture brought him to his feet. “I must go to my aunt. She’s so good to stand as chantelain these weeks.”
“She enjoys it.”
“I wonder that she could. The kitchens, the laundry, the sewing, the cleaning. It’s beyond my ken with so many to tend. I’d be lost without her.”
“She’ll be pleased to hear it. But she tells me you come, every day, to speak with her, and to tour those kitchen, the laundry. Just as I’m told you go speak to the smithies, the young ones you have carving stakes. And today you trained with the other women.”
“I never thought my office would be an idle one.”
“No, but you need rest, Moira. Your eyes are shadowed.”
She told herself to ask Glenna to teach her to do a glamour. “There’s time enough to rest when this is done.”
She spent an hour with her aunt going over household accounts and duties, then another speaking with some of those who performed those duties.
When she started toward the parlor with the idea of a light meal and a vat of tea, she heard Cian’s laugh.
It relieved her to know he was keeping Glenna company, but she wondered if she herself had the energy to deal with him after such a long day.
She caught herself turning away, felt a quick flare of anger. Did she need a headful of wine just to sit comfortably in the same room with him? What sort of coward was she?
Straightening her spine, she strode in to see Glenna and Cian sitting by the fire with fruit and tea.
They looked so easy with each other, Moira thought. Did Glenna find it comforting or strange that Cian looked so like his brother? Little differences, of course. That cleft in Cian’s chin his brother lacked. And his face was leaner than Hoyt’s, his hair shorter.
There was his posture, and his movements. Cian always seemed at his ease, and walked with a near animal fluidity.
She liked watching him move, Moira admitted. He always put her in mind of something exotic—beautiful in its way, and just as lethal.
He knew she was there, she was sure. She’d yet to see anything or anyone come up on him with him unaware. But he continued to slouch in the chair where most men would rise when a woman—much less a queen—entered the room.
It was like his shrug, she thought. A deliberate carelessness. She wished she didn’t find that so appealing as well.
“Am I interrupting?” she asked as she crossed the room.
“No.” Glenna shifted to smile at her. “I asked for enough for three, hoping you’d have time. Cian’s just been entertaining me with stories of Hoyt’s exploits as a child.”
“I’ll leave you ladies to your tea.”
“Please don’t go.” Before he could rise, Glenna took his arm. “You’ve been working hard to keep me from worrying.”
“If you knew it, I wasn’t working hard enough.”
“You gave me a breather, and it’s appreciated. Now, if everything’s gone as planned, they should be at the projected base. I need to look.” Her hand was steady as she poured tea for Moira. “I think it would be better if we all looked.”
“Can you help them if…” Moira let it trail off.
“Hoyt’s not the only one with magic up his sleeve. But I’ll be able to see more clearly, and help if necessary if the two of you work with me. I know you’ve had a long one, Moira.”
“They’re my family as well.”
With a nod, Glenna rose. “I brought what I thought I’d need.” She retrieved her crystal globe, some smaller crystals, some herbs. These she arranged on the table between them. Then she took off her cross, circled the ball with its chain.
“So.” She kept her voice light, placed her hands over the ball. “Let’s see what they’re up to.”
It had rained across Geall, making the trip a small misery. They’d circled wide, coming down nearly a quarter mile east of the farm they intended to use for a base. Its location was prime, nearly equidistant from the land Lilith now occupied and the field of battle.
Because it was, Cian’s assumption that it would be laid for ambush rang true.