:Picked him for what?: Alberich began with even more irritation, and then, of course, it dawned on him. Kantor would hardly be this shocked over the young Queen choosing a dancing partner. :She chose the Prince of Rethwellan as her Consort? But—: Now he was bewildered a little, by all that he did not know about Valdemar. :Can she do that? Just pick someone like that?:

:She can, and she has,: was Kantor’s reply. :We had better get back up the hill and quickly. Every Herald in Haven is going to want to say something about this.:

Since Alberich was already moving as fast as he could without being obvious, he saved his breath for running. Which he did when he got into the alleys where no one was there to see him. It seemed to take forever before he was safely in his little room at the back of the Bell’s stables, though he knew rationally that he’d made good time.

In a remarkably short period of time, Alberich was back in his gray leathers, and they were cantering through the streets, heading for the Collegium.

:What happened, exactly?: Alberich asked, moving easily with Kantor’s gait, and keeping a sharp eye out for unwary pedestrians.

Kantor told him.

:Didn’t Caryo guess what was going to happen?: he demanded. :Why didn’t she warn the rest of us? We could have gone to more pains to investigate him!:

:I don’t know,: Kantor said, mirroring Alberich’s irritation. :Maybe she thought it would all blow over. This shocked everyone; no one guessed Selenay would do this. I suppose she didn’t even confide in her own Companion.:

He kept his thoughts on that subject to himself. All right, granted he wasn’t the most competent when it came to matters of the heart and particularly of romance, but there were some things that were obvious. He hadn’t set eyes on this Prince himself, but he’d heard from plenty of people that the boy was absurdly good-looking. When you took a young woman like Selenay, who surely cherished her own dreams of romance even though she knew very well she was unlikely to fulfill them—and you presented her with a handsome young man of the proper birth and with all of the advantages that a foreign minister could ask for—well, what did you expect to happen? The only reason that he, Alberich, had been blindsided was because the young man himself had given no outward signs—that Alberich knew of—that he was interested in a marriage alliance with Selenay and Valdemar.

Clearly both he and Selenay had played these cards very close to the chest, if even Caryo had thought it would all blow over.

:So what does anyone know about this prince?: he demanded.