Testing the Teaser

Being slow on the uptake, I notice today that several bloggers are posting little snippets of WIP and call it Teaser Tuesday. So why not continue my challenge-taking of late? This is from the first chapter of a YA fantasy in which the king has summoned Fiona and other sixteen-year-old girls to consider their futures. Fiona is accompanied by her only relative, her great aunt:

“Lady Celia,” the king said without taking his stone-gray eyes from Fiona, “it has not escaped me that your young charge has unusual occurrences around her, whether it’s the way she can calm the most wild-eyed horse or whether it’s the more mysterious issue of what she has done with her little songs.”
Neither Fiona nor her great-aunt moved or spoke. Fiona’s heart pounded so violently she thought the whole room must hear it.
“Did you think I would not notice a slip of a child standing alone on a freezing morning singing to the bare cherry trees? Did you think I was blind to pink blossoms bursting on the barren limbs, or deaf to people running out of the castle, exclaiming that spring had come early? But the flowers turned to ice, and you grabbed Fiona’s arm, scolding. Some may have thought it a miracle or aberration. I believe it was the girl.”
Lady Celia stirred, a jerky movement, and her voice came out cracked, “Sire, her silly singing at inappropriate times and places has long plagued me. It is a nuisance for which she has been punished.” Her voice gathered more of its usual assurance as she added, “I regret if it has caused you any disturbance. I can send her to a friend in the country until she learns her manners.”
The king laughed, but it was not a pleasant sound. “I’m not talking about manners, Lady Celia. The girl has magic, and no one may do magic without my command.”