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Aodren“Explain.”“The trace I noticed on Lady Ailis was not an ordinary transfer.”That narrowed the question considerably.I had already considered mate recognition at the Nine Arches. Scent. Persistent attention. Preference for proximity. None had been conclusive alone.Deren had noticed something I could not use my own senses to confirm.“How certain are you?”“That I noticed it? Entirely.”“And what it means?”“Less so.”Better.Deren had served Draevyr households longer than I had been alive. If he refused certainty, there was insufficient evidence for certainty.“Recognition?”“Possibly.”The same answer I had reached myself.With another fact supporting it.I glanced toward the palace gates. Ailis’s carriage was long gone from view.“Anything else?”“Nothing I would call proof.”“Then neither will I.”Deren inclined his head.I went back inside.The afternoon supplied no revelation. It supplied reports.The northern companies had changed two officers since the last inspection.

AodrenAilis kept one hand on the blue-green book.For a moment she said nothing.Then, "If I would not be in the way.""You would not."Her fingers relaxed against the cover."Then I would like to stay."Good.Deren moved toward the door without requiring an instruction. Luncheon in my apartments did not ordinarily require much arrangement, and I had no intention of relocating to one of the formal dining rooms merely because I had acquired company.Ailis looked down.Brown wool.Again.I had seen her do the same thing at the Nine Arches. Briefly then. More than once since entering the palace.I looked at the dress.Nothing had happened to it."What is wrong with your dress?"Her head came up."Nothing."Not the complete answer."You keep looking at it."She looked down again, which proved the point more efficiently than anything she might have said."The dress is respectable.""I had reached the same conclusion."Her mouth pressed together.There.I waited.Ailis eventually smoothed

AilisDeren remained still long enough that I lowered Before the Last Bell completely.His gaze had shifted again. Not far. My face, then somewhere near my shoulder, then back.I followed it downward.Brown wool.Oh.I had spent the morning becoming progressively less aware of what I was wearing. That had been possible in the lower market, where brown wool was entirely respectable, and at the Nine Arches, where most people had been dressed for walking.General Aodren's private apartments were less forgiving.The dress was clean. The seams were sound. I had checked both this morning, although my standards then had been appropriate for eating bren rather than entering a royal palace. My boots had been chosen for walking. My hair had been arranged more softly because --No.The hair was not the problem.Probably.I knew what women wore when received in royal households. House Edevane had been minor nobility, not ignorant nobility. If Mother had known I intended to spend the morning in a

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AilisThe palace guards bowed to General Aodren.Then they looked at me.Not rudely.That might have been easier.I was still holding his hand.I became aware of this at exactly the wrong moment.General Aodren appeared not to. He continued through the gates as though bringing a human woman into the royal palace by the hand was a perfectly ordinary addition to his morning.Perhaps for him it was.No.That explanation had survived breakfast.It had survived the carriage.It had suffered badly at the Nine Arches.I was beginning to think it might not survive the palace.I kept walking.The palace itself did not overwhelm me because it was grand. House Edevane had not been royal, but I had grown up in a noble household. I understood polished floors, guarded passages, formal rooms arranged to tell visitors precisely how important the family occupying them was.I understood servants who seemed to know where everyone belonged before the people themselves did.I understood that the embroidere

AodrenThe curl was softer than I expected.I had not expected anything from it, which made the thought useless. Ailis sat beside me with her hands folded over her bag while I let the strand slip from my fingers. The arrangement she had chosen this morning was different from the one I had seen at Maela’s. Less severe. Several curls had been allowed to remain loose at the back, and one had fallen far enough toward her shoulder to make touching it convenient.I had noticed before she entered the carriage.“You wore your hair differently.”“Yes, Your Highness.”She watched me for a moment, clearly waiting to discover whether the observation required anything from her.“I like it this way.”Her eyes widened slightly before dropping to her hands.That pleased me.There was no reason to pretend I did not know why.Ailis was beautiful. I liked looking at her. I liked the dark curls I had just touched, the way pleasure reached her face before caution followed it, and the softness that appeared