@LuVs$

Evanor shrugged. The pain had faded with time, though he and

his brothers still missed theirparents. “Well, he did have a cold…and we think a heart attack. And he had just…lost the will togo on

without her.”“I myself have never met someone who felt that strongly about their beloved. Don’t get mewrong, I was devastated

when my late husband died…but I had Mikor to give me a reason toget up every day and keep going. And Serina.” The petite woman

smiled ruefully. “She kept megoing. In fact, she called it revenge for every single time I had bullied her into remembering toeat, and bathe,

and do other normal sorts of things that were just getting left on the wayside inmy grief, as they had been occasionally lost in her passion for

mathemagics.”Her frank admission gave Evanor hope, even as her comments about her late husband madehim uncomfortable.

“And do you consider yourself recovered from your grief? Not to diminishyour loss, of course, but…”“But you mean to ask, am I a one-man

woman, or am I open to the possibility of someone elsein my life?” Mariel finished for him, slanting him an amused look with those hazel eyes

of hers.Evanor opened the door into the palace for her, a courtesy she appreciated. Especially comingfrom a handsome man

like him, absent vocal cords and all. “Thank you…I’d say I’m ready. If theman is worthy of my time, of course…and if he doesn’t mind the fact that

I am a mother, and assuch, concern for my son will always be one of the uppermost thoughts on my mind.”“Why wouldn’t he be?”

Evanor asked her, confused by her comment.“Oh…a few times, when I’d accompany the nuns on their trading expeditions down

into thelowlands in the last couple of years, I’d run across men who were interested in a widow…but notin a mother. They thought I should just hand

Mikor off to the nuns to take care of while I dalliedlonger with them. It wasn’t so much the dallying with them part that was the problem, so

muchas it was the fact that they thought my son was a hindrance. That he could be set asidelike…like a toy. Something to put on a shelf when

it’s not being played with. They wanted me toput my ‘toy’ on a shelf so that they could play with me.”“Children are not toys. They are a lifelong

responsibility. And you don’t just hand them off toanyone who can watch them for an hour or so,” Evanor asserted, pausing at the foot of

thestairs. “I remember Mother firing one of our nanny-tutors when we were young, because thewoman had fobbed us onto

one of the kitchen maids so that she could dally with a stable hand,instead of teach us our lessons for that morning. But the kitchen maid still

had to get her workdone, and couldn’t watch all of us while doing so. Kor was only three at the time and cut himselfgrabbing for a knife in the

scullery, which was where she had to watch us while she wasworking.”Mariel had to lean close to catch every word that he hissed, but

she didn’t mind. He smellednice, this close. A hint of perfume, soap, and that underlying musk that was the scent of an adultmale. He

looked nice, too, clad in a light blue tunic and darker blue trousers. They were a littleodd looking to her Natallian eyes, since she was

used to seeing longer, knee-length tunics onmen, and fitted hose, not loose pants, but she didn’t have to know what his legs looked like,

shesupposed. No, wait—yes I do…Regathering her wits, Mariel responded to his revelation.

@LuVs$

“I’m glad your mother fired that tutor. But I’m curious as to what your mother did with her owntime. Not that I can blame her in wanting a

nanny to help take care of eight boys. I’d certainlyhire some help, if it were me that had that many sons,” she admitted.“She did

spend a lot of time with us, but she was also the Countess of Corvis and had manyresponsibilities, assisting our father with his duties in

overseeing the demesne.” He smiled ather. “Much like the things Kelly and Saber were doing with you, just now.”“Ah, that’s right! Dominor did

say he was a noble-born son.” A thought following that statementmade her flush. “I’m afraid I’m just a commoner, by birth. The only

thing special about me is myaffinity for Healing magic. My mother was just an herb-healer, and her father before her, thoughmy great-

grandmother had a small touch of magic, according to family history.“Of course, my parents were very proud of me when I started

showing signs of magic at the ageof eleven. My father came from a long line of farmers, but he was very proud to have a mage inthe family, and

a mage-Healer at that. My mother was a little jealous at first; she was a farmer’sdaughter, too, though she had a bit of herb-healing

knowledge. But after I went to the HealingCollege when I was twelve and showed the teachers there all that she had taught me

aboutherbal medicines, I told her how impressed they were with her herbal lore, and she felt a littlebetter.”“Being able to heal

without magic is just as important, in some ways,” Evanor demurred.“Yes, but it’s not the same as being able to do so with magic. You can

do so much more withmagic.”“The place where Kelly is from, they don’t use magic to heal,” Evanor said, guiding her up thesteps.“They

don’t?” That startled Mariel. “Why ever not?”“She’s an outworlder, from a universe where magic is extremely rare. Instead of spells,

they usenonmagical means to cure all sorts of illnesses and injuries. She knows more about it than I, butshe did mention her own

people could reattach severed limbs, if it was done quickly enough.The healing rate isn’t as swift as magic, though, and they cannot

regenerate lost organs orlimbs. But it’s still impressive for a realm without spells.”“Goodness!” Mariel exclaimed, eyeing him

askance. “She’s from a place without magic? Of anykind? And she’s your queen? However did she manage that?”He grinned at her. “She

declared herself our queen, that’s how.” His grin turned into a wry smile,wrinkling his nose a little. “I’m afraid I couldn’t quite keep my brothers

civilized enough, duringthe three years of our exile from the mainland. Just before she arrived…not to scare you, but wehad let our

chores lapse. In fact…”He hesitated a moment, then shrugged and finished his statement.“In fact, you could say we were very

much like pigs rooting in a pen. Well, they were like pigsrooting in a pen; I tried to keep everything neat, but I’m only one man. My twin only ever

@LuVs$

bothered with tidying his own quarters, and very little effort anywhere else, and the rest

wereeven worse. When Kelly arrived, she bullied us into scrubbing the palace from top to bottom,and the difference really showed,

comparing the slovenly sections to the recently cleaned.“The way I figure it, if she could bully the eight of us into being civilized again—including

mysometimes stubborn twin—she’s definitely strong willed enough to be our sovereign.”“I suppose a foreign outlook on life might help,

too,” Mariel admitted as they emerged on thethird floor, “so long as she keeps a sensitivity to local customs and how things work in

thisworld, as opposed to her own.” She paused as a trunk came floating past them, forcing her andEvanor to move up against

the wall of the corridor to avoid the levitating object. “But it doesmake me wonder, if she’s from another universe, who does she follow

as her chosen deity? Shedid say God, during our conversation, but she said no specific name.”“You’re lucky I can answer this one,”

Evanor said. “She calls herself ‘agnostic.’ She believes in aDivine Creator of some sort, but that it is by its very nature unknowable,

beyond the grasp ofmortal man. And, as she said it herself, since she hasn’t met any of our Gods and Goddessespersonally, and

probably won’t ever meet any personally, the Divine remains unknowable to her.Apparently, the Gods and Goddesses of her own universe

don’t manifest themselves very often,nor display very many overt miracles, so there are a sizeable number of her own people whofeel the same

way.”“How sad,” Mariel murmured. “Of course, I haven’t personally seen a manifestation of theGoddess Natua, but still—”“There you

are, Mother!” Mikor popped out of one of the doors up ahead, grinning at them. Hepointed at the room the chest was floating into. “That’s your

room! I picked it out for you. Andthat one will be mine,” he added, pointing at the door next to it. “I’m supposed to stay in this oneso

Aunt Serina doesn’t clobber me with a stray box or something. That one is your room, right?”Evanor, finding himself the center of the

youth’s attention, nodded in confirmation. He didn’tbother to speak, though; he was beyond whispering range with the boy. The woman at his

sidespoke up, though, addressing her son.“Yes, Mikor, that is his chamber, and you’re not allowed to go in there without

Evanor’spermission. Or into any of the other places that will be pointed out to you as off-limits,” sheasserted. “This is just like the Retreat, in

that there are rooms you aren’t allowed to go into.They might not be the nuns’ cells, or their temple sanctum, or exactly like the other places

thatwere off-limits there, but they’re off-limits here all the same. Got it?”Mikor nodded, his cap of curls bouncing with the motion. “I know. But that’s okay,

’cause UncleDominor is going to keep giving me sword lessons—right?”“Because he will keep giving you sword lessons, yes,”

Mariel agreed. Another box floated up thecorridor, this time swerving into the room Mikor had pointed out to be his own. She

gave Evanora wry smile. “I think it would be wise to join my son in that spare room, there, while whoever it iscontinues to float things

upstairs. It’s probably Serina and that fellow with the light brown hair,the youngish-looking one.”“Morganen,” Evanor filled in for her. “You’ll

meet everyone formally soon enough.”