The Royal Hunter Part 41

"Not in the way I'd hoped when I first sent Archer after you." She motioned to

a large chair positioned near the bed. "Please, sit. I'll have Marietta bring some

tea."

Talia sank gratefully into the chair, but waved off the offer of tea. "No, thank you." She looked up to find the queen studying her with disconcerting frankness.

"You really do bear an amazing resemblance to your mother."

"Thank you."

"Of course I never knew your mother but my father kept images of her close

by for the remainder of his life."

That information made Talia pause. "I found some sort of cube today, in my mother's chamber. Apparently she locked the contents of the room under some sort of spell or illusion. There was a message in it, though. She said she had

the key to open it, or, failing that, the next healer would. But I don't know how. I tried. The cube cannot be taken from the room, either. I'm sorry."

Catriona waved away her concern. "I am sorry there wasn't more for you to

look through, for your own sake. But there is little to be done for it now."Talia paused, then said, "My mother... she mentioned your father's name..."The queen's gaze sharpened. "Yes? Explain yourself."Talia straightened, reminded again whose presence she was in. '"It was nothing, really. Just the way she said his name. I got the feeling they were close. I imagine my mother's role was a trusted one, so that makes sense. I guess I was just warmed by the idea that she seemed close to your family. I know it wasn't easy for her to leave."

The queen's focus intensified. "You know why she left, do you not?"

"She was pregnant with me. Baleweg told me it cost her a great deal to turn

her back on her obligations and leave, but there had been threats against her

and she was afraid for my life if she didn't."

The queen closed her eyes and Talia started to rise, automatically opening herself up to find out what was wrong.

"Don't," Catriona said, her eyes remaining shut. "It's all right. I'm just... a little overwhelmed. I already had the proof but... I suppose I had to hear it from you."

Confused, Talia had pulled back before connecting with her. She had no idea

what the queen was talking about. "Hear what from me?"

"Did you not wonder at the depth of our connection? You do know that empaths only connect with those they care deeply about, or are connected to in some way."

"Yes, I know that. I a.s.sumed it was because you are a royal, and I am destined

from birth to... to serve you somehow."Catriona shook her head. "Many rules apply between royal and healer, but that is not what forged the bond you felt today. Empathy is not exclusive to healers. In fact, it is a somewhat common ability. At least in this time, if not in yours-the one in which you were raised."

Talia opened her mouth, then shut it again. So she knew.

The queen smiled lightly. "Yes, I am aware that the Old One helped to hide your mother in the distant past. Again I wish to tell you of my grat.i.tude that you so willingly came to my rescue. I would like to think I'd have made such a

selfless gesture, but I am learning that I am a far more petty and closed- minded person than I thought myself to be."

Talia had no idea what to say to that.

"As you have also discovered," she went on, "you are not a healer. That is not

the source of our connection."

"I don't understand."

"Did your mother marry after leaving this time?"

"No, she never did."

"Did you wonder who your father was? Did you perhaps come back in hopes

of discovering who he was?"

"I have wondered, of course, but no, actually, I never thought of looking for him here." She was somewhat surprised about that, given what she and Devin had talked about the night before. But it had never even occurred to her. "Do

you know who he is? Is he-?" She couldn't get the words past a suddenly tight throat.But Catriona was already shaking her head. "He is no longer living."Her breath caught. "Then you know who he was?""Oh, yes. Tell me this. Do you have a birthmark? Anywhere on you, the shape of a small crescent moon?"Talia shrank back in her seat, mortified beyond belief. "You were watching!"Catriona looked confused, then actually laughed. It ended on a wrenching cough that had Talia leaping from her seat.

The queen managed to wave her away. "It's all right," she rasped. "Sit, sit."

She took a moment to recover her breath. "I a.s.sume you mean that you think the room you shared with Mr. Archer last night was monitored. It is, as are all

rooms in this castle save my chamber and the healer's. But trust that no one was watching you last night."

Talia let out a relieved laugh of her own. "Thank G.o.d." Then she sat up again.

"Then how did you know-?"

The queen lifted her hand and drew her gown off her shoulder. There, above her right breast, was a small crescent moon. She smiled at Talia. "It's hereditary. From our father."

Talia's mouth open and shut several times, but nothing came out as the reality of what she was insinuating came cras.h.i.+ng over her. "Dear G.o.d." It couldn't be.

King Gynan was her father. Her father was a king. All those fairy tales her mother had told her about a brave king who would treasure a little girl who could talk to animals... she'd never once guessed.

"We are sisters, Talia," Catriona said. "Half sisters, but sisters to be certain.

And that is why you will never be a healer. Had any other fathered you, you would have retained your mother's skills. But royal blood can never mix with a healer's blood. It ends the line."

Talia sat back limply in the chair, her skin cold and clammy. Her mother had left because she'd been carrying the king's child. Her! She couldn't grasp it all, it was too much. "Why didn't she tell me?" Though Talia realized now that in her own way, she had. "And wouldn't she have known I wouldn't have her skills?"

"I can't say, though I would imagine she did know. At least my father would certainly have told her, had he known." She stopped and frowned.

"What?""Maybe he never knew about you. It's possible she also realized that if she gave birth to you here, once it became apparent that you didn't have her skills... people would know of their relations.h.i.+p."

"So she left to protect me and your-our-father.""I don't know. We'll never know."

Talia was still trying to take all this in. "But you knew. How long have you

known?"

"I never even knew of your existence until yesterday, though now I am amazed I never put it together."

"What do you mean?"

"My father spent his whole life searching for your mother. He made it out to be his royal duty to his healer, but my mother soon suspected it was more. He never gave up looking, not really. He was convinced she'd traveled through time and it was largely through my mother's behind-the-scene efforts that he

was not taken seriously. Though my father denied the affair, she was quite jealous and her bitterness colored everything she did.

"I'm ashamed to say that I allowed it to color my perception of my father, as

well. Not that I knew of the love affair, I only knew my mother held some deep-seated resentment toward him and it filtered down to me. I was the recipient of her diaries upon her death and the details were all there. It was a well-guarded secret. No one ever knew. And naturally I never told anyone."

She fell silent, her focus drifting inward. "All those years," she said softly.

"Wasted. I should have trusted him, or at least given him a chance." Catriona looked back at her. "Now that I think back on it, I'm sure my father never knew. If he had known Eleri carried his child, nothing would have stopped him from doing whatever it took to find her, even if it meant destroying his kingdom to do it." She shook her head. "I know my mother never knew. No one knew Eleri was leaving until it was too late. I was stunned when you told me who you were."

Talia knew exactly how she felt.

"I will admit my first reaction was suspicion," she went on. "You were being

somewhat evasive and it all seemed too neat a package. I'll apologize to you now, but when I saw you and Archer had grown... well, close, I put you in that room for the sole reason of obtaining a pure sample of your DNA. I had it tested while you were in your mother's room." She talked over Talia's gasp. "I know it seems rather calculated, but there is a great deal at stake here and I'd do far more than that to ensure that I'm not being drawn into a trap."

"Trap?"

"If you had indeed figured out that you had Dalwyn blood in your veins, then

it was reasonable to suspect you might be in cahoots with Chamberlain to take over the throne."

Talia's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding."

"I had to be cautious. The only curious thing was that you did not use your

empathic skills to connect with me, probe me for your own gain. In fact, you seemed to fight against it."