A chair got in her way. She almost kicked it, but remembered at the last instant that she was not wearing shoes. Instead she deliberately took the cushion from the chair and set it on the floor. She plumped it a few times, then straightened. She lifted the hem of her dressing gown to her knees, squinted, swung her leg a few times for practice, and then kicked the cushion completely across the room. “There!” she said. “Take that!” For some reason it made her feel a little better.
Garion was away from their rooms at the moment, engaged in his customary evening conversation with Emperor Zakath. Ce’Nedra wished that he were here so that she could pick a fight with him. A nice little fight right now might modify her mood.
She went through a door and looked at the steaming tub sunk in the floor. Perhaps a bath might help. She even went so far as to dip an exploratory toe in the water, then decided against it. She sighed and moved on. She paused for a few moments at the window of the unlighted sitting room that overlooked the verdant atrium at the center of the east wing of the palace. The full moon had risen early that day and stood high in the sky, filling the atrium with its pale, colorless light, and the pool at the center of the private little court reflected back the perfect white circle of the queen of the night. Ce’Nedra stood for quite some time, looking out the window, lost in thought.
She heard the door open and then slam shut. “Ce’Nedra, where are you?” Garion’s voice sounded a trifle testy.
“I’m in here, dear.”
“Why are you standing around in the dark?” he asked, coming into the room.
“I was just looking at the moon. Do you realize that it’s the same moon that shines down on Tol Honeth ‑and Riva, too, for that matter?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” he replied shortly.
“Why are you being so grumpy with me?”
“It’s not you, Ce’Nedra,” he answered apologetically. I had another fight with Zakath, is all.”
“That’s getting to be a habit.”
“Why is he so unreasonably stubborn?” Garion demanded.
“That’s part of the nature of Kings and Emperors, dear.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you want something to drink? I think we’ve still got some of that wine left.”
“I don’t think so. Not right now.”
“Well I do. After my little chat with his pigheaded imperialness, I need something to calm my nerves.” He went back out, and she heard the clink of a decanter against the rim of a goblet.
Out in the moon‑bright atrium something moved out from the shadows of the tall, broad‑leafed trees. It was Silk. He was wearing only his shirt and hose, he had a bath sheet over his shoulder, and he was whistling. He bent at the edge of the pool and dipped his fingers into the water. Then he stood up and began to unbutton his shirt.
Ce’Nedra smiled, drew back behind the drape, and watched as the little man disrobed. Then he stepped down into the pool, shattering the reflected moon into a thousand sparkling fragments. Ce’Nedra continued to watch as he lazily swam back and forth in the moon‑dappled water.
Then there was another shadow under the trees, and Liselle came out into the moonlight. She wore a loose- fitting robe, and there was a flower in her hair. The flower was undoubtedly red, but the wan light of the full spring moon leeched away the color, making it appear black against the blond girl’s pale hair. “How’s the water?” she asked quite calmly. Her voice seemed very close, almost as if she were in the same room with the watching Ce’Nedra.
Silk gave a startled exclamation, then coughed as his mouth and nose filled with water. He spluttered, then recovered his composure. “Not bad,” he replied in an unruffled tone.
“Good,” Liselle said. She moved to the edge of the pool. “Kheldar, I think it’s time that we had a talk.”
“Oh? About what?”
“About this.” Quite calmly she unbelted her robe and let it fall to the ground about her feet.
She wasn’t wearing anything under the robe.
“You seem to have a little difficulty grasping the idea that things change with the passage of time,” she continued, dipping one foot into the water. Quite deliberately, she pointed at herself. “This is one of those things.”
“I noticed that,” he said admiringly.
“I’m so glad. I was beginning to be afraid that your eyes might be failing.” She stepped down into the pool and stood waist‑deep in the water. “Well?” she said then.
“Well what?”
“What do you plan to do about it?” She reached up and took the flower from her hair and carefully laid it on the surface of the pool.
Ce’Nedra darted to the door on silent, bare feet. “Garion!” she called in an urgent whisper. “Come here!”
“Why?”
“Keep your voice down and come here.”
He grumbled slightly and came into the darkened room. “What is it?”
She pointed at the window with a muffled giggle. “Look!” she commanded in a delighted little whisper.
Garion went to the window and looked out. After a single glance, he quickly averted his eyes. “Oh, my,” he said in a strangled whisper.
Ce’Nedra giggled again, came to his side, and burrowed her way under his arm. “Isn’t that sweet?” she said softly.
“I’m sure it is,” he whispered back, “but I don’t think we ought to watch.”
“Why not?”
The flower Liselle on the water had floated across the intervening and Silk, his expression bemused, picked it up and smelled it. “Yours, I believe,” he said, holding it out to the pale‑skinned girl sharing the pool with him.
“Why, yes, I believe it is,” she replied. “But you haven’t answered my question.”
“Which question?”
“What are you going to do about this?”
“I’ll think of something.”
“Good. I’ll help you.”
Garion firmly reached out and pulled the drape shut.
“Spoilsport,” Ce’Nedra pouted.
“Never mind,” he told her. “Now come away from the window.” He drew her out of the room. “I can’t understand what she’s up to,” he said.
“I thought that was fairly obvious.”
“Ce’Nedra!”
“She’s seducing him, Garion. She’s been in love with him since she was a little girl and she’s finally decided to take steps. I’m so happy for her that I could just burst.” He shook his head. “I will never understand women,” he said. “Just when I think I’ve got everything worked out, you all get together and change the rules. You wouldn’t believe what Aunt Pol said to me just this morning.”
“Oh? What was that?”
“She said that I ought to‑“ He stopped abruptly, his face suddenly going beet red. “Ah ‑never mind,” he added lamely.
“What was it?”
“I’ll tell you some other time.” He gave her a peculiar look then. It was a look she thought she recognized.
“Have you taken your evening bath yet?” he asked with exaggerated casualness.
“Not yet. Why?”
“I thought I might join you ‑if you don’t mind.”
Ce’Nedra artfully lowered her lashes. “If you really want to,” she said in a girlish voice.
“I’ll light some candles in there,” he said. “The lamp’s a bit bright, don’t you think?”
“Whatever you prefer, dear.”
“And I think I’ll bring in the wine, too. It might help us to relax.”
Ce’Nedra felt an exultant little surge of triumph. For some reason her irritability had entirely disappeared. “I think that would be just lovely, dear.”
“Well,” he said, extending a slightly trembling hand to her, “shall we go in, then?”
“Why don’t we?”
CHAPTER TEN
The following morning when they gathered for breakfast, Silk’s expression was faintly abstracted as if he had just realized that someone had somehow outbargained him. The little man steadfastly refused to look at Velvet, who kept her eyes demurely on the bowl of strawberries and cream she was eating.
“You seem a trifle out of sorts this morning, Prince Kheldar,” Ce’Nedra said to him in an offhand manner, though her eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth. “Whatever is the matter?”
He threw her a quick, suspicious look.
“There, there,” she said, fondly patting his hand. “I’m sure that you’ll feel much better after breakfast.”
“I’m not very hungry,” he replied. His voice was just a little sullen. He stood up abruptly. “I think I’ll go for a walk,” he said.
“But my dear fellow,” she protested, “you haven’t eaten your strawberries. They’re absolutely delicious, aren’t they, Liselle?”
“Marvelous,” the blond girl agreed with only the faintest hint of her dimples showing.
Silk’s scowl deepened, and he marched resolutely toward the door.
“May I have yours, Kheldar?” Velvet called after him.
“If you’re not going to eat them, that is?”
He slammed the door as he went out, and Ce’Nedra and Velvet exploded into gales of silvery laughter.