Jaciel looked at her daughter, and Clariel felt as if her mother was actually seeing her for the first time in years. There were faint beads of mist on Clariel’s scarf and a lock of hair had escaped it on the front. Jaciel carefully tucked the errant hair back under the scarf, a maternal gesture Clariel had not experienced since she was a little girl. It made her feel quite odd now, because she knew it stemmed from her mother’s love of her art, her excitement for the work that lay ahead, and not from a pure love of Clariel herself.

‘I think Clariel looks fine as she is, thank you, Valannie. You did a very good job earlier.’

‘Yes, milady,’ said Valannie mulishly. Jaciel ignored her, climbing into the palanquin and settling in among the cushions. Clariel followed more slowly. She wasn’t keen on the dinner ahead, and she was particularly not keen on sharing the enclosed space of the palanquin with her mother.

‘You did very well today,’ said Jaciel as the palanquin was lifted and the bearers began their whispered chant. ‘I had not thought there was any possibility that the King would let the salt cellar leave the Palace, even temporarily. He must have liked you.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Clariel honestly. ‘We kind of … had an argument.’

‘He must have liked you despite that,’ said Jaciel. ‘Captain Gullaine tells me that he may be open to a regency. That you might be regent, Clariel. Guided and aided by the appropriate people of course, a regency council. Your father would be good on that.’

‘And Governor Kilp, I suppose,’ said Clariel bitterly, seeing a new web being woven around her. She’d thought Gullaine at least something of a friend before this visit.

‘No … we won’t need Kilp now,’ mused Jaciel. ‘I thought I might need his assistance to even get a look at the Dropstone salt cellar … but if you are regent, then there will be no problem with getting at the other works. I know there are more in the Palace, unattributed, of course. A full inventory will be required.’

‘I don’t want to be regent, Mother!’ protested Clariel.

‘Don’t be silly!’ snorted Jaciel. ‘It is a wonderful opportunity, far better than anything else we could arrange.’

‘Really?’ asked Clariel. ‘If I took it, I’d probably be dead in a week, and you and Father too. Do you think Kilp is going to stand by and let someone else take the power he’s been aiming for?’