“Or perhaps only the Lady,” Kieri said. “Perhaps other elves need to see or touch it.” He stood, shaking his head. “We don’t know enough. It’s been like this since I came—what I did not know brought great harm, and what I do not know now might bring more. I will press Amrothlin when he returns and make clear to him—I hope—how dangerous these secrets are.”

“Indeed,” Arian said.

He looked around. “I wonder if there are more such patterns, though I cannot imagine the Lady needing to arrive directly in every room and outbuilding. But before I have a mat put over this, can you draw the pattern, do you think, without looking at it?”

“Yes,” Arian said. “Although if it is a pattern of power, it might have the same force on paper.”

“We must chance that,” Kieri said. “Or you can leave a break in some of the lines—that might be enough to make it useless. We need a record of it in the palace archives.” He touched her shoulder. “You came with a purpose—what was it?”

“That journey to the Tsaian court,” Arian said. “Duke Mahieran is anxious to leave soon; he says he will have stretched his king’s patience as far as it will go, being here with his younger son so long. Do you still want me to go, or have these other happenings changed your mind? It would be half-summer before I could return, and we both want a child.”

“And you are still recovering from losing our child,” Kieri said. “Are you sure you’re strong enough after the poisoning? We should not rush—either the child or the visit—if you are not.”

“I’m sure,” Arian said. “I talked to Estil Halveric and a midwife who has cared for other half-elven. They said it was not too soon if I truly wished it. And I do; the taig agrees.” She looked down. “Estil reminded me … you lost children before, as well as your … as Tammarion. I have been thinking only of my own feelings…”

“We both grieve,” Kieri said. He closed his eyes a moment, those two child faces floating clear in his memory, then fading again. “And we will both rejoice when our child is born. Whenever that is. I trust Estil’s experience and a midwife’s, but—this was poison.”

She nodded. “Now is a safe time—we know there is no poison here right now. And that is why I want to try and then travel at once, while I can. If I were carrying a child at this moment, I would leave today, before that traitor or another brought more poison or something else…” Her voice trailed away, then strengthened again. “I don’t want to be away from you—but I don’t want to be here, waiting, uncertain—”

“You won’t stay away the whole time!” Kieri stared at her.