Page 112 of First Light
“Do you consult in political matters like your sister Eamer?” Carys kept her eyes wide. “You’re the daughter of the queen of Éire, right?”
The corner of Regan’s mouth lifted. “I am.”
“So you must be busy.” Carys lifted a goblet of water and sipped it. “Probably finishing Aisling’s studies would free up some time. Less time traveling to places like Alba if there’s already a mage in your mother’s family living here.”
“Aisling won’t be here forever.” Regan smirked. “Our mother will only allow her to be lovesick for so long.”
“Regan.” Eamer’s voice cut through Aisling’s quiet gasp.
Carys could see Aisling trembling in her seat, and Elanor must have noticed the woman’s discomfort too.
“Aisling, I’m so forgetful,” Elanor said. “I was going to give Carys a book that Seren gave me for my birthday a few years ago. It’s in English, and I thought she would enjoy it. Would you be a dear and fetch it from the library for me?”
“Of course, Queen Elanor.” Aisling immediately left the room, leaving Carys alone with Elanor, Eamer, and Regan.
Eamer said something to Regan in a language Carys didn’t understand, and Regan slowly stood at the table, stretched her arms over her head, and grabbed a folded pastry and an apple from the table.
“This is boring. I’ll find Aisling and work on her grimoire today.” She glanced at Carys. “Enjoy your breakfast, Seren’s kin. We will speak another time.”
Aisling’s absence and Regan’s departure left the rest of the women at loose ends, and Carys could see that Eamer was itching to follow her sister. She decided to provide both women with an exit.
She scooted out her chair. “Elanor, would you mind if I got that book from you later? I forgot that I was going to meet with Cadell this morning.”
Elanor nodded. “Of course.”
“Carys Morgan.” Eamer’s sharp voice cut through the tension inthe room. “I have a gift for you as well.” She held out a box with a blue ribbon around it. “A memento of your sister from her childhood.”
Carys reached out and carefully took the small box. “I will treasure it.”
The queen offered only a stiff nod in acknowledgment before Carys left the room.
Carys spedto her room and opened the box from Eamer immediately. Inside she found a pocket mirror with a simple gold casing small enough to fit into a lady’s purse. It was shaped like a compact, and on the front of the mirror was an engraved dragon with red enamel inlay. It was in perfect shape with hardly a scratch on it.
Clearly, looking at herself in the mirror hadn’t been a high priority for her sister.
Carys flipped it to the back to see an engraved message in English.
To Seren
With joy in the eleventh year of your life.
Eamer
It was a gift given almost as soon as Seren had returned to Cymru for her dragon training, a gold mirror for a rowdy warrior girl. Eamer must have given the gift with good intentions, the new wife of a beloved father, trying to curry favor with a daughter already half-grown.
And Seren had packed the fine gift away, a nêrys ddraig having little use for a present to enhance her appearance.
“You didn’t understand each other.” With the gift of distance, Carys could see how the two women—so very different—might have rubbed each other the wrong way.
Eamer struck Carys as a traditional woman who valued her role as queen and consort. She was involved in education and formalitieswhile Seren had been a wild child who became a formidable adult, a warrior in her heart, raised in a wild place where she ran amok through the hills and forests of Alba.
“Not an easy relationship,” Carys murmured. She opened the mirror to look into the glass and saw the edge of something white sticking out along the side. A thread from Eamer’s purse?
Carys picked at it and quickly realized that it wasn’t a thread at all but the edge of a paper sticking out from the backing of the mirror. Taking her fingernail, she pried up the polished metal to see a small compartment behind the mirror. A secret compartment containing a folded piece of paper. She set the mirror down and opened the paper.
Meet me in the portrait gallery after dinner tonight. Please come alone.
Carys quickly stuffed the note into her pocket and put the mirror on the desk by the window.