The Black Gryphon

But she hadn’t thought about what she was humming, until she passed Lady Ci

Only then did she realize that she had been humming a song that had been all the rage at High King Leodhan’s Court-for the single week just before Ma’ar had challenged the King to defend his land. Like the nobles who had fled the challenge in terror, or simply melted away in abject fear, the song had vanished into obscurity. Only someone like Lady Ci

Only someone else who had been part of the Court for that brief period of time would have known it well enough to hum it.

Winterhart had seen Ci

But the Lady was more persistent than that. More than once, Winterhart had caught Ci

And now-here the Lady was, staring into Winterhart’s eyes, with the look on her face of one who has finally solved a perplexing little puzzle.

“You are a good cha

“Thank you,” Winterhart said faintly, trying to look away from Ci

“Altogether you are much improved; get rid of that Co

And with that, she turned and moved on to the next patient, leaving Winterhart standing there, stu

Rea

Winterhart went on to her next patient in a daze; fortunately her hands knew what to do without needing any direction from her mind. Her mind ran in circles, like a mouse in a barrel.

Lady Ci

How long before the Lady told her kinsman Urtho that Rea

But before Winterhart could free herself from her paralysis, Ci

Winterhart started at the sound of her old name.

Ci

The Lady smiled her famous, dazzling smile.

“Sometimes being in the middle of a situation gives one a very skewed notion of what is actually going on. If I were a mi

And with that rather obscure bit of observation, the Lady turned and was gone.

Winterhart sat in her own austere tent, braiding and rebraiding a bit of leather; her nerves had completely eroded. In another few moments, she was scheduled for a treatment for her back-treatments she had come to look forward to. The kestra’chern Amberdrake was the easiest person to talk to that she had ever known, although the changes he had caused in her were not so easy to deal with.

But now-Ci

“I believe you should tell Amberdrake.” Ci

And most of all, why did she want to follow the Lady’s advice?

Oh, gods-what am I going to do? What am I going to say?

She could say nothing, of course, but Amberdrake was skilled at reading all the nuances of the body, and he would know she was upset about something. He had a way of getting whatever he wanted to know out of a person, as easily as she could extract a thorn from the claw of one of her charges.

I could stop going to him. I could find someone else to handle the rest of the treatments.

But she was not just seeing him for her back, and she knew it. Not anymore. Amberdrake was the closest thing she had to a real friend in this place, and what was more, he was the only person she would ever consider telling her secrets to. So why not do it?

Because she didn’t want to lose that friendship. If he heard what she was, how could he have any respect for her, ever again?

Then there was the rest of what Lady Ci

She had always known, whether or not Co

Then she had decided that sooner or later Co

Then again, he was a master of manipulation, and one of the people he manipulated as easily as breathing was her. She didn’t like unpleasantness; she hated a scene. She was easily embarrassed. He knew how to threaten, what to threaten her with, and when to turn from threats to charming cajolery.

On her part the relationship originally had been as cool and prearranged as any marriage of state. He supplied her with an identity, and she gave him what he wanted. They maintained their own separate gear and sleeping quarters; they shared nothing except company.

But you don’t allow someone into your bed without getting some emotional baggage out of it. She was wise enough to admit that. And even though she would have been glad enough to be rid of him, as long as he claimed he had some feelings for her, and he needed her, she knew she would stay. Not until he walked away would she feel free of him.

Amberdrake had skillfully pried that out of her already-and in so doing, had made her face squarely what she had not been willing to admit until that moment. She didn’t want Co