“Wait!” I tap Halrendar’s sides with my heels, and he jumps
to a trot. “Wait, Thelia. I’m just . . . sad about all this.”
“And I’m not?” she retorts. Parlor Trick is slighter and
faster, and Thelia surges on ahead. “After they get married, my
best friend will be gone forever.”
“I know!” I urge Halrendar on and finally overtake Parlor
Trick. “But there’s nothing we can do about it!”
Thelia slows her horse and Parlor Trick tosses her head,
annoyed that she can’t keep running. Thelia’s gaze searches
mine. “We have one moon until the wedding,” she says. “One
moon to change Corene’s mind.”
“But how—”
“Corene just doesn’t realize what she has.” I didn’t realize
she had such a high opinion of me—which turns me suspicious
of this whole conversation. She rode out today for her own
reasons, and I won’t learn what those are unless I step into
her trap.
“What do you suggest?” I ask.
Her deep red lips, like a rose crushed and pulped, twist into
a smile. “Make her jealous.”
“I’ve never wanted anyone except Corene. I can’t just
move on.”
She sighs, as impatient with me as always. “Don’t think of
it like that. Think of it as . . . finding comfort in someone else
in a time of hardship.”
There’s only one person she could mean. “You?”
“Don’t look so shocked.”
“I’m flattered, but—”
“For Melidia’s sake, Bayled, it’s not like that.” Thelia brings
Parlor Trick to a complete stop. Without my asking, Halrendar
stops beside her. I think he has a crush on the palfrey. “If I tell
24
