“No. Everyone’s within a chain of obligation, loyal to an oath. Something to think about when you tell someone something—to whom might they feel obligated to tell it?”

That day the riding instructor led them north of the city for a gallop in fields separated by hedges and patches of woodland. Rain two days before had left water in the furrows; they rode along the margins until the instructor found a drier pasture on higher ground. When the riders had completed their exercise and dismounted to walk the horses cool in the shade of a hedge, Camwyn stooped to look at some bright red mushrooms that had come up after the rain—unfamiliar to him, as were the trees they grew under. He touched them but knew better than to eat one without asking someone.

When he came back into the palace, he did not expect to be taken immediately to his brother the king, who was in no good mood.

“I thought you knew how to keep your mouth shut,” Mikeli said.

“I didn’t tell anything,” Camwyn said. “What do you think—”

“You didn’t tell anyone that we discussed Ganlin, that her father had written me?”

“Of course not. You said not to, and anyway, who would I tell? I was out riding. What happened?”

“Rothlin. He knows about the letter, and he knows you know. I thought you were the only one who could have told him, but someone else must have.” He sighed. “Roth was not pleased to find that Ganlin’s father had involved himself, though he said that he knew her brother was even more ambitious for her than a king’s cousin. He thinks Ganlin really likes him but would defer to her father’s wishes.” He rubbed his head. “It’s such a tangle. We need time to straighten things out here after Beclan; rushing into a marriage—either of us—is not the best plan.”

Camwyn went off to his supper thinking about all this and wondering who else could have known about the Kostandanyan king’s letter and its contents—and who would have talked. He knew he hadn’t mentioned it. Only later, as he lay in bed, did he think of magery. Someone with magery might have known … or could magelords know what others said—or thought? Mikeli had told him that Duke Verrakai claimed the mysterious crown she’d brought spoke to her. Did it speak to anyone else? If Duke Verrakai knew things about the Kostandanyan princess … would the crown know what she knew, and could it tell anyone else?