Free Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn Page B

of knowing where Justin had started out, though, and that made it a little easier. “They’re traveling pretty fast and going—north, I think. But they’re still in the Lirrens. He still feels sort of fuzzy to me. I’ll have a much better idea once they cross the mountains.”
    Tayse glanced at Senneth, a faint smile on his face. “We should find a way to welcome them home.”
    She laughed. “What, you missed having the Riders throw you a charivari on your own wedding night?”
    “Charivari?” Cammon repeated. “What’s that?”
    Tayse’s smile deepened. “When Riders marry. It is traditional to celebrate the event—”
    “Since it is so rare,” Senneth interjected.
    “With a party that sometimes becomes quite boisterous and continues through the night.”
    “A drunken rout is what it is, and I don’t think Ellynor would enjoy it,” Senneth said. “Though I do think it would be nice to plan some kind of celebration for the day they arrive. If Cammon could tell us when that is going to be.”
    “When they get closer, I will,” he said.
    “Justin will suspect something,” Tayse said. “He’ll sneak them in during the middle of the night.”
    “Easy enough for Riders to stay up and wait for them,” Senneth said, trying not to laugh. “Riders never need to sleep.”
    “Well, we ought to mark the occasion in some fashion.”
    “Kirra and Donnal ought to be here,” Senneth said. “We should send them word. Are they still in Danalustrous?”
    Cammon nodded. “I’ll let them know,” he said.
    “That will be nice,” Senneth said. “The six of us back together again. For a little while, anyway.”
    “Seven now,” Cammon said.
    “Seven,” Senneth repeated. “I wonder how well I’ll like Ellynor once I get to know her.”
    Tayse shrugged. “She makes Justin happy. That’s all I need to know.”
    Senneth looked at Cammon with a question on her face. Does she indeed make Justin happy? He grinned and nodded. “Almost as happy as you make Tayse,” he said. That made her laugh and shove him out the door. So, after all, despite the cold, pretty soon he was out on the training field with a weapon in his hand.
    Nothing else to do if he was not going to have a chance to see Amalie.

CHAPTER
5
     
    T HE princess didn’t need him the following morning, either, but Cammon was not going to make the mistake of seeking out the Riders again. He was still sore from yesterday’s workout. Instead he bundled himself up in a heavy new coat—provided by Milo—and went in search of the raelynx.
    The six of them had come across the wild cat a year ago when they were traveling through Gillengaria on a mission for King Baryn. Most raelynxes could only be found across the Lireth Mountains in the Lirrenlands, and they possessed their own kind of feral magic. They could not be caught—they could not be killed—they eluded every hunter’s trap, every householder’s poison. With their red fur, spiky ears, and great tufted toes, they were beautiful and lawless and terrifying.
    The folk of the Lirrens had learned to control them, or at least keep the great cats from ravaging their communities. Senneth said it was because the Lirrenfolk were protected by the Dark Watcher, and the night goddess had claimed the raelynx as her own. During the long years when Senneth was estranged from her own family, she had lived among the Lirrenfolk and learned some of their customs, and she too had acquired the trick of controlling a raelynx’s appetite and rage.
    Or at least, she had figured out how to keep this particular beast in check, but she admitted it was only because they had found it when it was just a few months old. A full-grown cat would have been more than even Senneth could handle. She had meant to return it to the Lirrens once they were safely done with their travels—and yet their adventures had never delivered them back to the Lireth Mountains. Strangely, once they returned to Ghosenhall, Queen Valri had been