Only Coralina could flirt from the throne.

Maelyn didn't know how, but word that Princess Coralina now ruled over Runa spread faster than Red Fever. Every unwed nobleman the realm possessed appeared at her throne. Knights from Lumen Fortress, especially. Coralina had always favored knights.

"What do you think, Sir Gwyn? Will I make a pretty queen?" She grinned at the stalwart young man nearest her throne.

"Prettiest of a hundred kingdoms!" Sir Gwyn cried.

Coralina made an obvious pout. "Only a hundred?" And the forty knights surrounding her thundered with laughter.

Maelyn wanted to be sick. Yes, Coralina was lovely. Black curls spilling over her shoulders, plum-colored gown shimmering, teardrop pearls dangling from her ears. Acting more like a child at her birth feast than a queen. This was her second day of ruling, and she had already shown it to be merely an amusement for her, one she tired of remarkably fast. She'd spent only two hours in this room yesterday before running off to work on her play, leaving half the visitors unattended.

Maelyn now stood at the back of the throne room, shielded by a clump of townspeople still waiting for Coralina's attention. She noticed sympathy in the cautious smiles they gave her and sensed not everyone in the kingdom rejoiced at the change in monarch.

"Isn't that your mother's crown?" Sir Brunner asked Coralina. "I remember Queen Runa wearing it."

"Why yes!" Coralina laughed. "Do you like it on me?"

Maelyn almost forgot to breathe. Coralina wore Mother's crown. She hadn't noticed. Mother's silver crown with inlaid sapphires that had lain on her pillow untouched since her death. It belonged on the head of the next queen, not buried in Coralina's turbulent hair.

Her outrage must have been obvious because a hand nudged her shoulder. "Not to worry, my lady," said a gentle voice. Maelyn turned and found Gord from Creaklee standing beside her. He nodded toward Coralina. "It won't last. She's having her fun, but she'll get bored soon enough. It's her butterfly nature."

"Butterfly?"

"Never lingers at one flower. Always flitting to a brighter one. Playing queen—it's just one of her flowers."

"Hmm. I think men are her flowers," Maelyn muttered. She watched Sir Brunner begging the privilege to kiss her hand, and Coralina making a bad pretense of reluctance.

"My lady!" Sir Gwyn said. "When you become queen, who shall be your husband and king?"

Coralina smiled mysteriously. "Perhaps he is in this room." The knights immediately bunched around her throne, shouting, "Who?" and, "Pick me!"

"Ugh." Maelyn dropped her face in her hands. She'd seen enough. And the neglected townspeople had waited long enough. She turned to Gord. "Why did you come today, Gord? Is it your eyesight?"

Gord nodded. "Gets worse every day, my lady. I'll be blind soon." He cleared his throat twice to steady his voice. "Came to ask if you'd help me find work so I can keep providing for my daughter."

Maelyn touched his arm. "Of course I will." She caught another peasant looking at her, an old shepherdess. "My sheep are wandering off pasture," the woman said. "The fence is broken and I can't repair it myself."

Maelyn crept toward the door, beckoning the townspeople. "Come with me, all of you. We'll talk in my library." She needn't have whispered or worried Coralina would notice them. Coralina had eyes for only men and mirrors.

"Health and wealth to Queen Coralina!" another knight cried. Coralina laughed in delight. "We must drink to that! Sir Brunner, find the Kitchen Princess! We need wine for everyone!"

Maelyn let the shutting door muffle the men's cheers. Stupid Coco. Those men would drain a barrel at least, and she knew Coralina would demand their finest: the aged mulberry wine that Uncle Jarrod drank.

*********

Maelyn tugged open the castle's main door and wondered where Arialain had gone. She should be doing this. The townspeople shuffled out, most looking happier than when they arrived. The sun hung just above the treetops of Lumen Forest. Maelyn inhaled the cool air and caught the scent of blackbird pie baking for supper.

Why hadn't she seen Willow? It occurred to her that she had not spoken to him in days. She pushed the heavy door shut and walked toward the ballroom, where she knew Coralina was holding a late rehearsal. If he was there, she would just say hello. She wondered if he knew Uncle Jarrod had come.

He wasn't there. Maelyn saw only Coralina reviewing a dialogue with Heidel, and she had no wish to speak to Coralina at all.

Feeling aimless, she went to her library and tried to read. She took out The Lonesome Lord, a nice story about a man searching for the perfect wife, not realizing his own fussiness was what kept him from finding one. It was told humorously, but Maelyn could not even smile at the familiar passages she had once loved so much. Did that make her fussy? Was it wrong to want something fresh and different?

She turned the page to a pen-and-ink illustration of the man crossing a footbridge into a rustic village. Looking at the straw roofs of the cottages, Maelyn found herself remembering the village of her birth, though the details from her memory were not as crisp as the drawing. Fernley, it had been called. Her father told her that after Red Fever, the village had decayed just like its inhabitants, with most cottages collapsing from neglect and weather. But since that time, new people had come and built new cottages, and it held a functioning community once again. It wasn't even very far... but she had never gone to see it. Unlike some of her sisters, Maelyn took no pride in her homeland.

She heard the wang-wang of Heidel's bell and closed her eyes. Supper now meant supper with Uncle Jarrod, who sat exactly where her father used to sit. Unbearable. Last night, Coralina had kept up a lighthearted banter that distracted him - she was good for something, at least. And Heidel's cooking left him unable to complain. But whenever his eyes met with Maelyn's, she saw in their depths a hunter waiting in the bushes, carefully biding his time. She didn't know what he was waiting for. But had no doubt she was the prey.

On the way to the dining hall, she met Jaedis coming from the outdoors and bearing the breezy scent of summer.

"Did you see Ari while you were out there?" Maelyn asked abruptly.

Jaedis walked beside her. "Oh yes. Creeping around the forest with that boy. They looked quite happy together."

Maelyn ground her teeth. "Not for long." If Arialain did not end things with Tofer, Maelyn would end it herself. He was wrong in every way, especially for a princess.

She hesitated before her next question. "Jaedis... have you seen Willow the messenger? Has he been coming to rehearsals?"

"He missed yesterday and today. Don't think he sent word, either. So something must be up because he's usually pretty courteous. Unless he figured it's not worth it because his part in the play is so small—he gets killed quickly by the monsters. Want me to check on him tomorrow?"

Maelyn shook her head. "Let me look into it. Now—how many days until this play?" She cared about the play only for its ability to keep Uncle Jarrod away from her. She had needed it to delay his coming. Now she needed it to mark when he would leave.

"Five days," Jaedis said.

Maelyn didn't even try to hide her heavy sigh. That seemed a very long time to her. But the absence of Willow gave her something to focus on. Now that she'd been freed of her duties, maybe she would call on him at the Old Ogre Inn.

Just to be sure he was well.