The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

learned that little trick. Her father’s wife deserved the unhappiness Lord Laislac dealt her every day.
    “To bring that . . . that thing into the family!”
    “That thing is blood heir to the throne,” Ariiell’s father reminded his wife.
    “Precisely,” Ariiell whispered to herself. “Mardall will never take the throne. But as long as Queen Rossemikka remains barren, my child is next in line.” She smiled hugely, rubbing her tummy.
    The baby kicked in response to the slight pressure. A good sign of the child’s health and vigor. Her mentor had promised the child would be normal.
    “I will be the mother of the next king of Coronnan,” she whispered to herself. No sense in losing the battle with her father by stating the truth. “As soon as the marriage takes place and the child is declared legitimate, I must find a way to eliminate Darville. I’ll certainly be more successful than those idiots from the coven and the Gnuls who have bungled every attempt these last three years.”
    She reached beneath the mattress for the book of poisons she had recently acquired. She wasn’t supposed to be able to read—no person other than the now outlawed magicians were allowed to learn the arcane art of reading and higher mathematics. But Ariiell had watched the family magician priest as he sounded out the letters and words on letters and reports. The priest was supposed to consign written communications to the fire as soon as he read them to the lord. A little sleight of hand had brought most of those messages into Ariiell’s possession.
    Careful study had brought the words to life.
    So now she plotted out ways to coat the inside of Darville’s riding gloves with a fast-acting poison. She’d need time to gather all the necessary ingredients. Time to insert herself into court life. After the wedding.
    By this time next year, she intended to be regent for her infant son and the coven.
    Earlier today, her guardian from the coven had tried another assassination upon the king. But this one was intended to fail. The coven needed Darville alive until Ariiell’s child was born. But they needed him frightened of dying without an heir so that he would name Ariiell’s child as next in succession. The man must have failed. He hadn’t reported back to her, and the king had not sent word to hasten the marriage.
    Time for a change of tactics. In a few hours she’d summon her nameless guardian and give him a new task—the poison ingredients would work just as well on Queen Rossemikka.

    * * *
    “I think I have a problem, Jaylor. I can’t throw the spell. I can’t come to the lair in three days or even tonight.” Jack schooled his voice and his face to slip through the summons spell on a note of calm. Panic gibbered inside him, demanding he pace, he pound, he seek Katrina in any way possible. He’d even travel into the void by himself, without an anchor, in order to find her.
    He sent this summons alone, deep in the night. As he had always been alone. He’d hoped Katrina would be the one to fill the aching void in his life. Now she was gone, too!
    He intended to fight to bring her back.
    Moonlight filtered through the rare glass window of the king’s study tower. Hours of searching had resulted in no new information as to Katrina’s direction or means of transportation. The scrying bowl had revealed only that she fled away from him.
    The king had had less luck in interrogating the scullery maid from the tunnel. She had disappeared from her locked room before anyone could question her, and no one from the kitchen remembered her ever working there. And yet Jack knew he’d seen her there just the day before . . . a puzzle he did not have time for.
    Jack’s only hope of finding his beloved lay in Katrina’s lack of magical talent. She couldn’t transport herself and had to travel on foot or steedback. She’d not get beyond the reach of his transport spell. But he had to have a landmark, something recognizable to home in on.
    And every minute he prayed that the Gnuls had not captured her. Their witch-sniffers had ways of shielding their prisoners from searches conducted by mundanes and magicians alike—much as Journeymen Marcus and Robb had disappeared some moons ago.
    He wouldn’t think about that. He knew he could find Katrina anywhere, any time, once he calmed down. Their souls were linked. His last journey through the void had shown him how the white and gold of her life force had entwined with his silver