The Royal Hunter Part 38

things. Can you understand? Surely the queen will leave some of her personal guard."

She didn't want him to feel that she needed him every second, though in truth,

she didn't want him to leave. Not because she feared for her safety, but because she wanted to share this time with him. It was special to her and so was he. But it was best if she remained on her own as much as possible. Wouldn't she have to soon enough anyway?

"I understand," he said. She saw the quick flash of hurt come and go in his eyes. She hated the spurt of hope that gave her. Not that she wanted to hurt him, but knowing that she could- She stopped thinking altogether when Archer slid a small, harmless-looking piece of black plastic from a side pocket in his trousers and pressed it in her palm. "Slide this gauge from left to right to adjust the power. Aim like so." He lifted her arm. "And press here." He pressed his finger over hers and a white hot-beam shot out of the little instrument, making it vibrate in her hands and sending her stumbling back against him. It also left a nasty-looking hole in the stone wall across from them. "My G.o.d," she murmured, looking down at the not-so-harmless piece of plastic.

"Don't let it out of your reach. Keep it on you at all times." He turned her face to his. "Promise me." She merely nodded, still stunned by what she'd just done. "Won't the queen be a little miffed at the damage?" "I imagine the queen has more important things on her mind. The guards didn't come running, which a.s.sures me this room is soundproof and probably quite secure." He looked away, sighed, then looked back at her. "I also imagine there is some kind of surveillance here, as there probably is everywhere inside the castle. Keep that in mind." Talia nodded, not really surprised. Then as the ramifications sank in, she gasped. "You don't mean... Last night..." She realized then why he'd kept her covered after dinner. He must have realized it then."Talia, I'm sorry, if I'd thought- And I'm not certain anyhow, but it's wise to be cautious."

She felt her outrage and mortification lessen somewhat in the face of his obvious misery. "It's okay." She pressed her hand to his chest. "Really." She pasted a grin on her face. "At least we gave them quite a show, eh?"

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. "I've never met anyone like you, Talia Trahaern." He held her close and she thought he murmured something else, but it was m.u.f.fled against her hair. Then he set her back and reluctantly let her go. "Don't leave here until I return. If you get in a bind, scream for the guards first, then use that." He nodded to the weapon still in her hand.

"Promise."

The door slid open then and a small squad of guards came in and silently surrounded Archer. They didn't even blink at the scorch mark on the wall. She

surrept.i.tiously scanned the ceilings and walls, certain now that Archer was right and they were being observed somehow.

Archer kept his gaze solidly on hers and backed out of the room. Then the

wall screen solidified and he was gone.

For the first time in what felt like a very long while she was alone. Well, alone with whoever was watching. She turned back toward her mother's chamber and tried to keep her cool. Not an easy job seeing that she was on her own in a

place and time of which she had no real knowledge... and was now faced with her mother's real past and ident.i.ty.She carefully made sure the power gauge was all the way to the left and slid the little zapper thing into the side pocket of her dress. Then she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked up to the wall. What was she supposed to say ? Open sesame ?

That turned out to be unnecessary. The wall dissolved in front of her... allowing her to walk into her mother's workroom. Fear and wonder, edged with grief, formed a tight ball in her stomach as she took the first tentative step inside.

She didn't even know where to begin. The room smelled dank, the air somewhat stale, though a faint herbal scent lingered. Had Catriona really left the room sealed as her father had wished? Considering her illness, Talia would think she'd have left no stone unturned. But as she moved farther into the room, she felt the una.s.sailable sensation of emptiness, disuse, abandonment. She rubbed at her arms, wondering if the feeling was real or a fabrication of her mind.

Not that it mattered. She took stock of the room's contents. A long counterlike table ran down one side of the small room and there were several stools tucked under it. The countertop was lined with compartments and various bottles, all of which appeared to be empty upon a cursory inspection. Two rows of shelves were braced above the countertop, each with more bottles and containers, also empty. A large desk was positioned in the corner and a chair sat in the opposite corner. She ran her finger along the counter as she came further into the room and noticed there wasn't any dust. "When they seal a room, they really seal it," she murmured. Still, it seemed odd that there was nothing in any of the containers. If they'd just evaporated or turned to dust, wouldn't the rest of the room be dusty, too? It did explain the stale scent. The room had been airless for years.

She walked over to the chair and sat in it. Immediately a pool of light from some unknown source above winked on, bathing her in a soft white beam. "Well, isn't that neato." She leaned back and the chair actually felt as if it were morphing. She started to jump out of it, but stopped when she realized that it was merely changing to fit her body. "Oh, I want one of these."

She sat there for a moment and tears gathered in her eyes as she tried to picture her mother here in this very room. She blinked back the tears and looked around. The desk had a plain black surface and she'd bet there was nothing in the drawers, either. She recalled the queen's admonishment not to take anything with her. "What in the h.e.l.l would I take?"

With a sigh, she stood and walked over to the desk anyway, settling into the chair behind it. It didn't do that neat morph thing, but it was comfortable nonetheless. She opened the center drawer and it was empty as expected. How did the queen expect her to learn anything in here? Maybe the king had taken everything out when her mother hadn't been found and sealed the room without telling anyone he'd emptied it first. And the queen hadn't known.

She leaned back and tried to stave off a wave of disappointment. Try as she might, there was no sense of her mother, or anyone else, in this sterile room. She absently slid open a side drawer, thinking she should summon the guard and try and catch up to Archer. A small black box rested in the bottom of the deep drawer. Talia forgot about the guard and pulled it out.

She set it on the desktop and turned it all around, but it appeared to be a solid cube with no lid or opening of any kind. "Perfect." She picked it up and examined it more closely. "It's a Rubik's Cube nightmare."

She put it down and searched the other drawers. Empty. She slid open the top one again and ran her hand back inside the long, flat drawer. Still nothing. She leaned back and stared into the shiny black surface, trying to see past her reflection to what lay inside. Surely it held something. She looked at her reflection, thought about the picture of her mother, tried to imagine her holding this very cube, and seeing her own reflection, one that looked so similar to the one Talia saw now. "Mum," she whispered, reaching... for what, she didn't know.

Then slowly, so slowly she thought she was imagining it, the cube glowed to life. Stunned, she sat back, but said nothing and held the cube gingerly, hoping -praying-it wouldn't go dark again. Carefully she studied it; each side reflected a picture much like a video screen.

She realized each side was part of the room she sat in, only in the cube screen, the jars and bottles lining the counter were no longer empty. She gasped and turned it to show the wall of shelves. Crammed full of books. Then she looked at the desk and she did drop the cube then, which clattered harmlessly to the desk surface, but thankfully remained alive. The desk in the cube screen was cluttered with an enormous array of books, papers, and all sorts of odd items. But it was the person sitting behind the desk that had caught her full attention. It was her!

How did she make the scene in the cube come to real life? she wondered. Maybe the empty shelves and counter were an illusion meant to protect the healer's craft. So it would appear empty to all but the healer who occupied it. Ingenious.

"Or maybe it's all a hallucination." But at this point she was willing to believe anything was indeed possible. She turned the cube over and over, wondering how to make the room match the vision in the cube.

"Why can't anything be easy?" she muttered, turning the cube in her hands once again. "I am Talia Trahaern, the royal healer," she intoned, then made a face. "And I sound ridiculous." She looked at herself sitting behind the cluttered desk in the cube, then swept her hand over the surface. Nothing was

there. "Dammit."

Then the person inside the cube spoke and she froze, unable to do so much as blink. Because it wasn't her own voice that spoke to her. It was her mother's.

"I am sealing this record," she said, the lilting Welsh accent so pure in her voice Talia's eyes instantly burned with tears. "There is trouble afoot and I can't be certain even this sanctuary won't be breached."

Talia's breath caught and she found herself stroking the tiny image of her

mother.

"This will only open again for me, Gynan." There was a pause and Talia watched her mother's hand disappear beneath the desk. "Or the one who follows me.

Tears streamed unheeded down Talia's face. "Oh, Mummy." Talia swallowed against the tight lump in her throat. Had her mother been stroking her burgeoning belly as she said those words? Talia knew she had.

"But I don't know how to open it, Mum," she said on a choked whisper.

Cynan. There had been such warmth in her voice when she'd said the king's name. Just Cynan. Not His Royal Highness or any other t.i.tle of honor.

Perhaps they'd become close during her attendance to him. She supposed her mother's role would have made her a valued guide and aide to the king.

"Time is of the essence. Record, seal," her mother said. Then the cube went

black.

"No!" Talia scooped it up and turned it over and over. "Don't go! Come back!"

She peered frantically into it. "I am Talia Trahaern," she said, desperation in her voice. "I am the royal healer." But the cube remained a cold, solid black, making Talia wonder for one hysterical moment if she indeed had been

hallucinating the whole thing.

But she hadn't. And once again, she hadn't been able to say good-bye to her mother.

She stared into the cube, reaching out with everything she had, but all she saw

was her reflection once again.

Now what? Feeling drained and emotionally exhausted, Talia wiped at her face and sniffed back fresh tears as she again looked about the empty chamber. "Maybe I'm not a healer," she whispered, finally giving voice to her greatest fear. Maybe her mother hadn't known it when she carried her, but had

figured it out after. Could something have happened because she was born in the past? Perhaps that was why her mother hadn't told her, never trained her.

"And perhaps I'm losing what is left of my mind."

She looked at the cube. Maybe she should take it to the queen, see if there was

a way to view her mother's message again. She stood and walked toward the antechamber, but the instant she pa.s.sed through the doorway, the cube vanished. She gasped and whirled around, only to find it perched on the desktop. "Okay," she said shakily. So it wasn't leaving the room.

But she was. She put the cube back in the drawer and walked from the room to

the antechamber. "Guard," she called loudly. "I'm ready to leave."

As the wall in front of her turned translucent, she took one last look behind her. The wall was already materializing, closing the room from her view.

"Good-bye, Mummy," she whispered. And she did feel a sense of peace then, and was grateful for this one last connection with the only family she'd ever had. "I love you."

Chapter 2O.

Archer had a bad feeling about this meeting. He a.s.sured himself that the queen had Talia under surveillance and wouldn't let anyone harm her. Guards had remained on duty all along the pa.s.sageway. She'd be fine.

He admitted that what was really bugging him wasn't so much relinquishing his role of protector as not being there when she went through her mother's things. He understood that it was a private moment for her. He simply wanted to share all her moments, private and otherwise.

The guards stopped and he was ushered into another room. Marietta awaited him on the other side. "Her Royal Highness is extremely fatigued. Please keep that in mind during the course of your meeting."

Archer nodded, wanting to hurry so he could return to Talia.

She ushered him through another hidden wall to a short pa.s.sageway, then through a small door that led into the same room he and Talia had been in

yesterday. Only this time there was no darkness. The room wasn't brightly lit, but he could see Catriona clearly.

The queen was abed, as before. He was startled to see that she looked

considerably more fragile. Her youth was far more apparent beneath sallow skin and limp hair. Her thinness made her swollen belly look oddly misshapen in contrast. Her eyes, however, were still sharp and quite focused. "Thank you, Marietta. Did you receive the results?"

The a.s.sistant looked surprised by the question and darted a look at Archer, as if the matter were personal and she was surprised the queen had mentioned it in front of him. She nodded. "Yes, Your Highness."

There was a long pause and Archer could feel the tension in the room grow.