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The notes h a su or just one note following another Either way it was peaceful Within minutes, both women were asleep
The rustle of paper and the murmur of male voices twined with the flute, and Gray sensed theTheir Queen was safe and she was content, so they could afford to let down their guard and rest
They’re proud of her, Ranon said on a psychic spear thread She scared the shit out of all of us when she drained herself like that, but there’s a feeling of pride now Even more than when she defended that landen family
Why wouldn’t they be proud to serve Cassie? Gray asked
Ranon didn’t answer for a minute, but the music became bittersweet We’ve all seen too much, Gray We’ve all done too much in defense of our people to trust without reservation When she stood in front of us that first day, we knee belonged to her, and that scared every one of us We didn’t knohat kind of woot a better measure of what kind of Queen we serve, and we’re proud to be in her First Circle, almost to the last man
Almost
Theran sat across fro the himself separate from the rest of them
It was a shame that Cassie and Theran were back to strained tolerance with each other The tentative peace that had begun between them after she found Lia’s treasure broke under the strain of her draining her power into the land They were all back to enduring Theran’s undisguised unhappiness with the Queen he had brought from Kaeleer
He was sorry that Theran was unhappy, but everyone else at Grayhaven—including the servants—was pleased to be serving Cassie, so Theran was the one who needed to accept the way she ruled Hopefully once Theran sa her understanding of the Queen’s connection to the land would help all their people, he would be able to accept her as the Lady who could restore Dena Nehele
“Do you play chess?” Cassidy asked Shira as they walked fro web up to the Grayhaven mansion
“Yes, I do,” Shira replied at the same time Ranon said, “No, she doesn’t”
Cassidy laughed “I was told chess is not a ga is too different to be compatible”
“Style of playing?” Ranonirrational is not a ‘style’ ”
“In the Dark Court, if achess with a feame of cradle with her as compensation”
“Cradle?” Shira asked
“A card ga and then expanded on later Well, she and the coven expanded on the basic ga just wasn’t flexible enough”
Gray snorted Ranon growled
Cassidy looked at Shira, inked at her but otherwise kept a straight face
She felt good Rested Ready for the next challenge Toeneral letter to all the Queens in Dena Nehele, gently re the land with power If they, like the Shalador Queens, no longer remembered that ritual, they would be welcome to come to Grayhaven where she would teach them