Amberhill kept his own relations with women frivolous and very temporary. He’d never fallen in love. Well, maybe for a day or two. He was fond of several ladies, and they provided him with all the warmth and pleasure he desired. Zachary should take this other woman to be his mistress and be done with it. It was a common enough practice among noble lords.

Zachary then surprised him by smiling at Lady Estora and commenting on some detail of the coast of Coutre Province. Lady Estora smiled back.

“Yes,” she said, “the view of it from the sea is magnificent.”

Amberhill thought he’d better attend more to the actual conversation, but the dynamics between his cousin and the lady intrigued him. It occurred to him how difficult it must be for the two to get to know one another when they were always chaperoned and often caught amid the throngs during official functions. Despite it all, and Amberhill’s belief Zachary was interested in someone else, Amberhilll had to re-evaluate and conclude that there was some warmth between the two after all. They certainly were not smitten with each other, but they were at least on congenial terms. Perhaps it would evolve into more with time.

“I climbed the Seamount when I was, oh, sixteen or so,” Zachary said. “I was traversing the provinces, seeing what I could see of Sacoridia. From the summit of Seamount the view of the harbor and islands was stunning. I found the blueberries growing there most delicious as well.”

Lady Estora’s eyes lit up and she delved into yet more reminisences about blueberries and this Seamount. The two carried on at length and Amberhill was caught in a yawn.

Lady Estora laughed. “Our poor Lord Amberhill. We’re boring him with our memories.”

“Not at all,” he replied. “It’s just that I’ve been at work all day arranging for the packing up of my house in the city.” He’d miss his “little” rental in the noble quarter, but it made no sense to maintain it when he’d be away for an uncertain length of time doing who knew what. In the meantime, he’d directed his man-of-business to seek a suitable house for purchase. A larger, more prominent house now that he could afford it. It was all about appearances, after all.

A servant came by and Amberhill placed his empty teacup on a tray. Lady Estora made a sharp inhalation.

“My lady?” Amberhill asked, startled.

“Your ring,” she said. “It caught in the light. May I see it more closely?”

“Of course,” Amberhill replied, silently cursing the flashiness of the thing. Considering how he acquired the piece, and how it seemed to be attuned to certain powers, he did not want to be questioned about it. He supposed he didn’t have to wear it, but he couldn’t help but wear it. He did not think it safe to just leave it lying about on his dressing table, and he did not trust leaving it in his pocket. What if it fell through a hole?

Now that he’d been directly questioned about the ring, however, he could not hide it, so he held out his hand for Lady Estora and his cousin to examine.

“It is beautiful,” Lady Estora said. “Beautiful and old, if I am not mistaken. Has it come to you through your family?”

“No. I acquired it from a dealer of antiquities. I could not resist it when I saw it.” The lie slipped easily from his tongue.

“I can see why,” Zachary said. “The craftsmanship is masterful, and the ruby very clear and fiery.”

“Yes,” Amberhill murmured, not comfortable with their scrutiny. He withdrew his hand and they sat back in their chairs.

“Many centuries ago,” Lady Estora said, “in the days before the Long War, there were mighty sea kings who ruled much of our coast and conquered many lands. It is said they were a brutal people in war, but generous to friends and family, and that they celebrated beauty and workmanship above all else. Their sigil was the dragon, or sea drake.”

“In Hillander,” Zachary said, “remnants of their villages have been found nearly washing into the sea, and the dragon sigil was found upon the few artifacts that survived—shards of pottery, metalwork, and the like.”

Amberhill had heard of the sea kings before in reference to his ring, from a pair of eccentric, elderly sisters. He’d been too busy managing his affairs since then to seek further historical reference to them, so it was astonishing to learn they’d had a presence in his home province of Hillander. Perhaps because his estate was inland, and he was not much of a scholar, he wasn’t surprised he knew nothing about them.

“How very interesting,” he said, as if hearing about the sea kings for the first time.

“I imagine we may have the blood of their people running through us,” Lady Estora said. “As for the kings themselves, it is said that during the Black Ages they boarded their ships with all their treasures and sailed east into the mist, never to return.”

“Mysterious,” Amberhill said, and it was. Unlike the old sisters, neither Lady Estora nor Zachary mentioned anything about actual dragons or any powers that might emanate from his ring. Then again, those sisters had been a trifle uncanny themselves.

“There are, of course, plenty of legends in Coutre about the sea kings,” Estora said. “Mostly told to terrify children into good behavior. It used to give me shivers imagining those ships coming back across the sea with their dragon figureheads and pennants, and ghostly sailors manning black sails and oars.”

“I wonder,” Zachary mused, “what the Eletians could tell us of them. Many Eletians who live now also lived during that time. Not that you would ever receive straight answers from an Eletian.” His expression was, for lack of a better description, one of gloom.