The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

yet.”
    “Afraid he’ll notice there’s more to you than lacemaker’s hands and sharp eyes? I’ll take him the pattern and claim it as my own. Maybe he’ll offer me the same bonus he wants to give you.” Taalia shifted in her chair, thrusting her bosom forward and wiggling her hips provocatively.
    “I’ll deliver the pattern when it is ready.” Katrina bit her lip. Neeles Brunix’s sexual innuendoes were getting harder to turn aside or ignore.
    She wondered yet again why the owner hadn’t forced her into his bed. He seemed to prefer his women willing—just like Simeon, who needed a willing virgin.
    The most recent increase in privileges could be a bribe, or perhaps merely a reminder that Neeles Brunix controlled every aspect of her life. Why shouldn’t she take a step toward earning her freedom by granting the owner a few favors?
    Because the touch of his hand on hers reminded her over and over of the filthy suggestions made by King Simeon. She’d never give herself to any man without marriage, without respect. She didn’t dare hope to find love.
    “I’ll give him the pattern during the sun break. He won’t make lewd suggestions with all of the others around,” Katrina said to herself.
    “Don’t underestimate him, Katey.” Iza came up behind her. Iza no longer made lace. She was nearly blind and hunchbacked from a lifetime of working her pillow in dim light. She wound bobbins or straightened pins and did other useful, time-consuming chores. Working in the factory had deprived her of a life and family of her own. She was now too old and her skin too yellow, from the enforced restrictions on trips to the necessary during work hours, to catch Brunix’s lustful eye. Iza had no other place to go.
    “Brunix wants you, not just for your body. He wants to use your talents to gain the respect of the other owners. If he can flaunt a fair-haired woman with palace training as his mistress, then he believes the other owners will accept his dark eyes and dusky skin. Hold out for marriage.” Iza urged Katrina back to her work.
    “I don’t want to marry Owner Brunix. Marriage to an outlander won’t earn me two plaits. I’ve been betrayed by dark-eyed men before. I’ll never let it happen again.” A magician boy with dark eyes had betrayed her father’s ship and ruined her entire family.
    Katrina had never met the apprentice responsible for stopping her father’s ship full of Tambootie seedlings, yet her hatred and mistrust of him grew with each year of separation from her old, comfortable, and stable way of life with a family she loved.
    “Design is your entrance to the palace and out of this rat’s maze,” Iza reminded her. “Show him the design today at the sun break. I’ll stand behind you.”
    “At the sun break,” Katrina affirmed with trembling hands and quaking heart.
     
    “Are you sure the queen is pregnant? So soon after her last miscarriage?” Jaylor asked the flickering image in the glass.
    A slight tickle in his mind told him that Brevelan listened to his conversation with the Commune’s informer.
    Three years ago, on the night of Darville’s coronation, he and Brevelan had been anxious to leave the capital before the Council discovered them. But he’d taken the time to recruit the spy. He needed information to keep his Commune safe. He couldn’t risk talking directly to Darville or Mikka.
    Though Margit had confirmed that Darville had not been with the army that attacked the monastery three years ago, Jaylor and his best friend had agreed to end all association and communication until prejudice against magic subsided throughout Coronnan. That couldn’t happen until the dragons returned. Bringing control back to the magicians.
    “I overheard her tell the king. She isn’t well, Master Jaylor. She’s as likely to lose this baby as all the others,” the spy said. Her voice was clearer than her face.
    Was it her lack of control of this spell or something else that interfered with the summons? Jaylor had only had time to teach her the basics of a summons and extending her listening senses when he recruited her.
    Yaakke had noticed her carefully hidden talent without recognizing her as the source. After three years, her powers hadn’t increased. She’d never qualify as an apprentice. She made a very good spy, however, despite her chafing at the confines of her work as a maid in Rossemikka’s household. Her need to be away from people and buildings had prompted her to