The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright Page B

there.”
    “Oh?”
    “We’re friends, Dawn.”
    Dawnmother snorted and took the lid off a covered dish, revealing a small roasted chicken on a bed of greens. “There are friends, and then there are friends , and then there are people you sneak into a hayloft with.”
    “How many haylofts have you snuck into?”
    “Enough to know when someone else is thinking of doing it.”
    “I am not.”
    “If the princess sent you a note asking you to meet her in the barn, would you go?”
    Starbride paused.
    Dawnmother snapped her fingers. “A pause means yes.” She carved the chicken with a few quick strokes.
    “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “My life for you and also the truth. You are smitten.”
    “I should have you staked in the sun for insubordination.”
    “That wouldn’t change the truth, and I would go to my grave a much-maligned but honest woman.”
    “A woman who’s been in quite a few haylofts, by the sound of things!”
    “Did you ask her to help you with the problems in Newhope?”
    “Absolutely not. That wouldn’t be fair to her.”
    Dawnmother snorted. “If she wants to help, you should let her help.”
    Starbride frowned and thought about it. Katya had protested, but she hadn’t exactly insisted on helping. That did hurt just a little. She shook her head violently. “No, Allusia has to fight its own battles. We can’t expect Farraday to solve all the problems it creates. If we lean on them to do everything for us, we won’t know how to do anything for ourselves. We won’t even know when we’re being taken advantage of!”
    “All right. I see the wisdom in what you say, for now, but if you and the princess become…better friends, the issue will surface again.” She gestured to the chicken. “Eat before it gets cold.”
    Starbride nodded, ate her dinner, and thought too hard about the task in front of her and Dawnmother’s words. She also couldn’t help glancing now and again at the area between the first two knuckles of her right hand.

Chapter Seven: Katya
     
    Katya put Starbride out of her mind as she entered the royal apartments. It would be hard enough to tell her parents about the Order of Vestra’s wasted trip to Longside without her mother asking if she was distracted.
    When she entered her parents’ sitting room, though, she stopped in pleasant surprise. Ma sat on one divan, and Crowe occupied the chair opposite, no doubt already reporting. Katya thanked the spirits that he’d beaten her there.
    Ma nodded at Katya before saying, “Please continue, Cimerion.”
    “Majesty, only my wife called me Cimerion and then only if she was upset with me.”
    “Crowe, then.”
    “As I was saying, the man we captured is a smuggler. I need to interrogate the Shadow again to get more information.”
    “My son arrives in two weeks.”
    “I know.”
    “This is the first Waltz that will involve his wife, and nothing can go wrong.”
    “I know, Majesty. I know.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking more tired than Katya had ever seen him.
    Noting the tightening around her mother’s eyes, the signs of strain, Katya frowned. They had to make some progress soon. An idea flashed through her head, a way to combine business and pleasure. “In two days, I’ll ride into the city,” she said, “as myself. The rest of the Order can be waiting nearby to nab anyone who pays me undue attention.”
    “A lure, eh?” Crowe said.
    Ma’s face grew more pinched. “Katya, I don’t think—”
    “I’m known for being able to take care of myself and for going out on my own. If I’m attacked, I can defend myself without raising anyone’s suspicions. I’ll find the traitors before Reinholt gets here. I’m doing this, Ma.”
    Her mother straightened, becoming the queen and nothing else; even sitting, Ma seemed about ten feet tall. Katya fought not to shrink from the royal presence. She was royalty, too, and taller than her mother. Katya matched her posture and threw a