The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

the lace had been around the woman’s neck and shoulders, then why did it float free while the body sank? Unless Tattia had put up a great deal of resistance before entering the river, loosening the lace. The fall into the icy water had probably sent her into shock so that she couldn’t climb out again. Only Tattia herself and the agents of King Simeon knew for certain how and why the lacemistress had died.
    Jack added that piece of information to his list of tasks to complete before he left the city.
     
    Katrina fingered the nearly finished shawl of her own design. Her usual patterns of edgings and insertions did not yet match her mother’s in uniqueness and elegance. This piece surpassed the original. Mostly because the floral centers flowed with the weaving lines of the petals. She doubted any of the lacemakers in the Brunix factory could figure out the convoluted thread paths of the runes in Tattia’s shawl.
    But then Tattia had incorporated the runes for a purpose, never meaning the design to be duplicated. If only Katrina knew the message in those runes. After last night’s invasion of the factory by a spying magician, Katrina had no doubt that her only chances of survival were to keep the shawl and its secrets hidden, or to learn those secrets and spread the information to the right people.
    Was Jack the right person? Part of her wanted to trust him and accept his friendship. Another part of her didn’t dare.
    King Simeon must know the meaning of the runes, or he wouldn’t be pursuing the shawl so diligently now that he knew it had not been destroyed. If he didn’t know, he wouldn’t have prevented the queen from seeing it when M’ma first offered it.
    The murmurs of talk from the workroom below her rose to a roar of speculation. Brunix had not seen fit to disclose to his workers why the factory had rocked with arguments and pounding feet last night. Katrina hadn’t bothered to explain her late return to her bed—though most of the lacemakers presumed she had been servicing the owner. Jack had not yet been seen today.
    Jack. Those few moments wrapped in his arms and his spell had shaken her carefully-layered suspicion and mistrust. He had allowed her to eavesdrop and learn the depth of Brunix’s involvement with the king.
    She wondered briefly if the glimpse Jack had allowed of his own mind was the result of the invisibility spell he had wrapped around them, or another trick to win her confidence. He wanted her help in completing his mission. She knew that much. What kind of help and how dangerous would it be? There had to be danger or he’d have given her more details.
    A special piece of lace, made of Tambrin. Was he, too, after the shawl? That piece was made of silk. Wasn’t it?
    Katrina needed to examine the piece more closely, looking specifically for evidence of Tambrin spun with the silk. Owner Brunix wasn’t about to remove the shawl from its locked hiding place so soon after the palace magician had searched for it. She didn’t have the key.
    Jack might be able to open it with magic.
    Her circling thoughts came back to the dark-eyed stranger again and again. She had to trust him if she was to find the answers.
    Yet she knew she shouldn’t trust the outland magician who had stopped the ship containing the precious Tambootie seedlings.
    He claimed to know her father, to have aided P’pa’s escape from the mines.
    Brunix treated him as if he were a cousin—another untrustworthy Rover.
    Jack had vowed his mission would deprive Simeon of magic and therefore his power over SeLenicca.
    The arguments wove back and forth and around like a giant spiderweb. Katrina was the fly trapped at the center, waiting to be consumed, knowing her death waited just beyond the next heartbeat. Just like the insect trapped in the amber bead on her divider pin.
    “I am tired of being a victim!” she shouted to herself, and the Stargods and anyone else within hearing distance. “If I am ever to cleanse myself of this web of lies and deceit, I have to take a risk.”
    Jack offered a solution as well as an escape. Brunix promised safety within the confines of slavery. How much longer would he wait to exert his rights over her again? Simeon offered nothing.
    “I need Jack,” she told herself. “I can use him as I have been used. I don’t have to trust him.” But I do like him. I felt so complete, so right when he wrapped me in his arms.
    Decision made, she touched the single plait of hair hanging halfway