“A new kind of book. Here…” Her mother placed the volume in her hands. “Open it.”

“Open it?”

“Let rne show you.” Her mother bent and turned back the leather cover to reveal a dazzling picture of a green and gold Atlantis afloat in a sea of lapis lazuli. Sunlight touched the page and set the colors aflame.

“It is beautiful!” exclaimed Charis, running her fingers across the page. “Where did you get it?”

“Traders brought it from across Oceanus. It is said the great libraries of the East have begun making books like this. I directed the royal artisans to paint the picture, but the writing is in the Eastern script. There is only one other book like this in all nine kingdoms and it belongs to the High King.”

Briseis closed the book and looked fondly at her daughter, lifting a hand to stroke the girl’s hair.

“Is something wrong, Mother?”

“Nothing to concern you, dear one,” she said, but a shadow lingered in her eyes.

Charis looked carefully at her mother. She was long-limbed and slim, with flawless white skin and hair of honey-gold. Her clear eyes were the color of mountain pools and hinted at icy depths. Although she rarely wore the circlet, there was no mistaking her royal bearing; nobility, fine and pure as light itself, radiated from her presence. Charis considered her mother the most beautiful woman in all the world, and she was not alone in this opinion. “You came to find me,” said Briseis. “What did you want?”

“Someone has arrived,” Charis replied. “I saw the ships come in. They are from Uncle Belyn.”

“Belyn here? That is news.” She turned and looked out across the harbor and Charis noticed the shadow was back.