“Lycur?!” Lyva calls again, holding her hand out, her lip quivering as her eyes well up, shedding tears of pain. I watch horrified as she squeezes her eyes shut and lets out an ear-splitting cry, followed by sob, after sob.The two of us rush to her side, both kneeling at the same time. Lycur inspects her hand while I try to wipe away her tears.

They don’t stop.

“Why won’t they stop?” I murmur and, using a subtle hand signal, I let the guards watching know not to send anyone to investigate. “It’s going to be OK, Lyva, don’t cry.”

“It’s just a splinter, it's in one of her scars, the skin is still tender and healing, so I'm sure it's more painful than normal. It's still in there,” Lycur explains, relief on his face and in his voice. I sigh with equal relief. The last thing I need is an injury to cause an incident while the treaty is being formed.

“Lycur will fix it, don’t worry.” I sit down on the ground and pull her onto my lap, still wiping her tears as they continue to fall; her sobs make her body shudder as she tries to stop them.

“Hold still, pup.” Lycur takes her hand firmly, and then gently pulls the splinter out by wedging it under his nail and pulling it back. It’s so small it seems inconceivable that it caused such a strong reaction. He looks shaken and leans forward to kiss her hurt. Finally, she calms down, snuggling closer to me. I look at his face and see an expression that I can’t interpret.

Clearing his throat,he stands and holds his arms out. “Is the pain bad or do you think you can help us find our way back out? Are you a Lupinel or a mouse?”

“A Lupinel.” Lyva gives a big heartfelt sigh and uses her good hand to let him pull her to her feet. She hides her hurt hand quickly, clenching her fist and holding it slightly behind her back. Lycur frowns at the move but says nothing.

I find her discarded flowers and quickly arrange a few in her hair, hoping to distract her. She sniffs loudly but has stopped crying.

“Do you have a remedy for every ailment then?” He gives me a lopsided grin as he picks Lyva up to carry her back to the Keep, letting me lead the way this time.

“Most, but not every ailment. It’s part of my Avarian education and heritage I guess.” It takes no time at all to get through the maze; I can walk it in my sleep and still find my way.

We stop at the entrance of the maze. My eyes fix on the stern figure of Queen Malvina walking briskly toward us with two ladies in waiting and three Lupinel guards in tow. Trouble is coming straight towards us.

“This doesn’t look promising,” Lycur mutters and holds Lyva closer.

Malvina glares at me, a look of pure malice in her eyes. It is only after they pass by me that I realise that her look wasn’t meant for me but was aimed at Lycur.

I see Father standing to the side, “You should come with me, this is not our concern.”

Hurrying to his side, I try to keep calm, glancing back over my shoulder to see Malvina giving Lycur an earful of what looks like accusation. Lyva is cowered away from her, hiding in his chest and shielding her hands.

It makes my blood boil to see her afraid and cowering. For a split second, I think about going back and taking her away from the scene. One look at the cloudy expression on Lycurs face tells me that he is not going to take it, so I decide against it.

He moves Lyva to cover the burn mark on his clothes; his eyes meet mine for a moment, then look past me to my Father.

“Why is he looking at you like that?” I don’t have time to think; Father’s voice is clear in my thoughts.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh. I don’t believe you.” He stands waiting for me, hands on his hips, a frown on his face, only half aimed at me but more at the scene is unfolding behind me. I stop in front of him, glancing at Malvina again; her face is red with fury from whatever Lycur said. She is clearly a woman with a lot of issues.

“What’s wrong?” I ask out loud this time, looking up at the walls to see the guards trying not to observe the disturbance, but some of them are unable to turn away.

“Queen Malvina did not give Lyva leave to attend the maze with you.” He says out loud and then through our link. “It shouldn’t really matter, but she is determined to prove her power. She is pitching a fit and King Lyall can’t be found. I suspect that he has gone on the hunt but can’t be sure.”

He takes my arm as we leave, his eyes darting about to be certain no one is listening. We move swiftly, going straight to my drawing room where we can continue our conversation undisturbed. “Did you learn anything new about the treaty?”

“No, Lycur was present the whole time. It was a bit of a waste, I’m afraid. Tomorrow will be different, though I will ask for King Lyalls’ permission at dinner to have Lyva attend me during my morning ritual. I promised to show her my fire, I’ll try again then. Why, what do you know?” I ask, taking a long drink from the cup he places in my hand. I sit at my table and remove my cloak, guiltily brushing away the few leaves that are stuck to it after my close encounter with Lycur.

“Nothing of any use to us. Malvina’s only half Lupinel, but I don’t know what the other half of her heritage is. Evadne didn’t sense anything Elemental, did you?” He moves to the window, looking down over the maze, it's my favourite view. Every muscle in his body is tense, I've never seen him like this, he’s really worried.

“No, I didn’t sense anything, and normally I feel a little sick when an elemental I don’t know is in my presence. I sensed nothing from her, only that she irritates me.” I wiggle my toes after removing my boots and placing them by the fireplace.

“She sets my instincts on alert. There is something not right about her. Even the child shies away from her and children are excellent judges of character.” He speaks his thoughts more to himself than me.

“She looks like she could be half Felinel, maybe. Her pinched features are a cross between the canine and feline traits, but hold the grace of neither. She also has a sense of self-worth far above anything I have ever witnessed.” A soft knock at the door cuts my musing short. Catching Father’s look of warning, he moves behind the door as I go, barefoot to answer it.

A Lupinel footman stands outside my door with three of my guards flanking him. He looks entirely uncomfortable. I hide my smile.

He clears his throat noisily before holding out a small wooden box for me to take. “His highness Prince Lycur and Princess Lyva would be honoured by your acceptance of this small gift, as a token of gratitude for your attentiveness this afternoon.”

He keeps his gaze averted and holds the box out in his shaking hand. Perplexed, I take it from him and open it. I can’t believe what I’m looking at. Inside the box is a silver ring with a single large bright red and orange stone, sitting in the middle. It’s impressive and definitely too much for a simple token of gratitude.

What to do?

“What is it?” Father's mental voice whispers.