Page 56 of The Prince's Fealty

It was a troubling thought. Ada could only imagine how Var would have reacted, and it could never be a good thing to have a furious High King.

Ada shook out her aching hands, released her shield, and then went about pouring the tea for Fernila.

She brought it over and released the second shield so that she could hand over the cup.

Fernila’s hands shook a little, but she managed to grasp the tea in one hand while she cradled Cala with the other.

“Thank you.”

“Shall I hold the baby for you?” Ada offered.

Fernila shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

She looked like she was going to spill her tea as soon as Cala decided to investigate, but Ada was well aware that people weren’t always rational around children.

It wasn’t her job to keep Hena and Par safe, after all, and yet Ada would do everything in her power to ensure nothing bad ever happened to them. She could only imagine what it must have been like to be attacked in the castle.

She frowned a little. Shehadjust been attacked in a castle, hadn’t she?

“What happened in Nexa?” she demanded. “Was it anything like this?”

Fernila turned startled eyes to Ada. “No, it was much worse!” Her cheeks went pink and she said a bit shrilly, “Oh, that makes it sound like this wasn’t bad! I didn’t mean that.”

“It’s all right,” Ada assured her soothingly.

Fernila’s emotions were clearly running high right now. She sniffed, the cup of tea trembling visibly.

“It’s really not. Oh, Ada, it’s not all right at all.”

She began to cry, and Ada felt a prickle of alarm down her spine. She glanced at Thurnil, who was surveying the food on the table like it held all the answers in the world. He did not, as a rule, like to deal with other people’s emotions.

“What happened?” she demanded a bit too forcefully, because this just made her sister-in-law cry harder.

Ada felt the fleeting urge to shake the woman, but that obviously wouldn’t help anything. Clearly,somethinghad happened, and Ada couldn’t be sure right now if it was as tragic as Fernila was acting.

Perhaps Ada could get hermoretea? Or some food? Or insist on taking Cala so that Fernila could have a few minutes to get herself under control?

She moved towards the table again. A distraction seemed like a good idea.

“Maybe—” Ada started.

Without any warning, a magical shield appeared around her, and she could see that another had formed around Fernila and the baby.

Fernila’s eyes darted to Thurnil and then the door, and then she looked back to Ada.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

Slowly, Ada shook her head. “This isn’t me.” She reached out and carefully pressed a hand to the magic forming the barrier around her. It was faintly warm andalmostpulsed with life.

In theory, it wasn’t actually possible to know whose magic was whose when it was an Extraordinary who manifested it. Given how rare they were, it was usually common sense that dictated who the magic belonged to.

But Ada had grown up with Extraordinary parents and siblings, and while she didn’t have the instinctive knowledge that Var and Tor had, able to know one another’s magic as if it were their own, there was still… something, like a little tingle of recognition when she touched their magic.

She couldn’t actually tell them apart, but she could make a logical deduction.

“I think this is Var’s magic,” Ada said. “I mean, it could be Tor’s, but—”

Fernila startled badly, and the color drained from her face. “It’s Var’s magic. It can’t… It can’t be Torex’s. Something’s wrong.”