of his mind. But after satisfying herself that he had more formal education than any prince had ever had before him, she ignored the books and used the library instead as a private study. Seated with Urival at Rohan’s long fruitwood desk, she relentlessly questioned, practiced, and reviewed with the older Sunrunner those things she had learned at Goddess Keep. Apart from his position as Andrade’s chief steward, he was a teacher of note and had more than earned his nine rings. He understood her need. He took Sioned through the most basic lessons, guiding her, refining her technique, showing her subtle variations that most faradh’im were not taught until they wore at least seven rings.
She called Fire, lighting candle after candle until the study was ablaze, then snuffed the wicks out with a single thought. She wove her own complex pattern of colors into the sunlight streaming through the open windows, called Air to cool the room during hot afternoons. She reviewed everything taught her over several years of training until she had once again reached the third ring, the level of apprentice Sunrunner. But the next step, a Fire-conjure, proved difficult. The only vision she could produce in the candleflame was Rohan’s face. Urival made no comment on her choice of subject that was not really a choice, and urged her on to the next level.
She rode the sunlight as far as her childhood home of River Run and returned with perfect control. The same night she wove the thin moonlight into a path leading as far as Goddess Keep, and when she came back she found Urival looking at her with a sour smile.
“I don’t know what you’re so worried about,” he grumbled. “How many times do I have to tell you that you weren’t to blame for what happened to Princess Tobin? Everybody knows that except you.”
“I have to be sure of myself,” she replied stubbornly. “I have to know exactly what I’m doing.”
He leaned back in his chair, light from a single candle flickering over his craggy face with its large, beautiful, golden-brown eyes. “Why don’t you stay on at Goddess Keep if Sunrunner’s rings are what you truly want? You’ve always been mind-hungry, Sioned, ever since you first came to us. What are you after?”
“If I decide to marry Rohan, I won’t bring him land or gold or anything else a prince usually marries for. His vassals will be unhappy about that. I have to show them I’m worth their trust and their loyalty. And if it happens that I don’t marry him, then I’ll have to know how to practice my craft at another court.” She shrugged. “I don’t belong at Goddess Keep anymore, Urival.”
“So what you’re really after is a seventh ring, and an eighth.”
“Yes. Will you teach me?”
He spread his hands flat on the table. All but his left ring-finger wore gold or silver, most of the circles set with tiny gemstones.
“You want dangerous things. Tell me why—and no more stories about marriage, either. You may be able to fool Cami and Ostvel, and perhaps even Andrade, with this nonsense about not being sure. But not me.”
Sioned took a long time about replying. “When I first came to Goddess Keep, all that mattered was that I wasn’t thought of as a freak, or fey, or an outsider in what should have been my own home. My brother’s wife made me feel that way, and her servants followed her example. I don’t blame her for thinking as she did, Urival. To her, I was strange. And through her I was sent where I belonged. Where I could learn. Once I found out what I could become if I worked hard enough, the thought of not learning all I could hurt more than the lessons ever could.”
“So you want your rings for yourself alone?”
“Not completely. For myself, and for Rohan. It’s not just that I have to make up for my lack of lands and wealth. I have to protect him, and all the Desert. I owe it to his people if he takes me to wife.”
Urival said nothing for some moments. Then, quietly, he told her, “I will teach you nothing more.”
Sioned jumped up from her chair and cried out, “But why? What have I done wrong?”
“You want your rings for the wrong reasons. Had you considered that a faradhi who is also a princess is another kind of freak, Sioned? Do you think more rings will give you power enough to