Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
The carriage ride across town was slow as it wove its way through the busy streets, heading to the south side where the homes grew larger and the roads were spotless. There were more trees and flowers in pots, adding bright, vibrant colors to the world.
Not surprisingly, the governor’s mansion was the biggest building on the street, with a separate iron fence around it and several guards standing watch. Yep, there was no escaping cleanly from this place if things went horribly wrong. I prayed Nylian had listened to me and gone to the wharf to work on the caravan issue. Even if I got stuck, he could still move forward with his plan to sneak into Ulmenor.
I climbed from the carriage and schooled my features into a look of boredom as I walked past the two rows of bowing servants. A man in a somber but expensive navy blue pants and tunic ensemble and a neat mustache standing just inside the door bowed, but not as low as the servants. This man was likely the governor. At least, I hoped he was.
“Your Highness, you honor me by gracing my home with your presence,” Samuel Brimsey greeted in a gravelly voice edged with the roughness of age. His hair was salt and pepper. It was receding at the temples, giving him a pronounced widow’s peak, adding to the shrewdness of his expression.
“This felt less like an invitation and more like a summons,” I sneered, clinging to the pompous-ass persona. “I don’t care for being summoned. I don’t even like when my father summons me.”
The governor had begun to straighten, but dipped into a second, even deeper bow. “Forgive me, Your Highness. When I got word of your unexpected visit to Riverhold, I was eager to make you feel welcomed. If you had but notified me, I could have made ready rooms for your personal use. Something far more comfortable than the inn where you—”
“And maybe you should have considered that I was keeping a low profile for a reason,” I bit out in a low voice as I stood over the man. With a dismissive noise, I stepped back. “But the damage is done now. I was told we were breaking our fast. Let’s get this over with.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Samuel murmured and straightened, motioning for me to accompany him through a set of incredibly tall double doors where a long table had been set with shining porcelain plates and sparkling silverware. Candlelight danced at the end of pristine white candles all along the table while brilliant sunlight shone through the wall of windows. It was a gorgeously appointed room, and it felt ridiculous for just two people.
I walked to the head of the table, followed by a servant, while Brimsey started for the other end of the table as the host. I stopped dead in my tracks, closed my eyes, and let out a sigh loud enough to be heard in the next house over.
“Are we not the only ones dining?” I demanded.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I opened my eyes to find Brimsey had taken a couple of steps toward me, his face twisted in confusion. “Then I want you seated directly on my left. I don’t want to spend the meal straining to hear you or shouting to be heard. Do you understand? I don’t have time for all this useless pomp and circumstance.”
The words had barely finished leaving my lips when several servants scrambled to move the governor’s specific plates and silverware to the seat I’d indicated while the one servant following me rushed to pull out my chair for me to flop into.
As course after course was brought out, I peppered Brimsey with endless questions about Riverhold from inner criminal threats to outer threats from orcs to ogres to the elves of Wolfrest. I demanded to know about commerce, population, health, and every little thing I could think to ask about. I hoped that if I could keep him talking, he wouldn’t have a chance to ask me a damn thing. Of course, that led me to the bigger problem of how to ask about Gushan and the royal family without tipping him off that I wasn’t Victor.
We’d reached the end of the meal, and I still hadn’t figured out how to get dirt out of him on the royal family, and he wasn’t giving me any hints as to whether he sided with Rufus or Victor. It was safer not to chance it. If I could escape the mansion with my life intact, I’d call it a win. The important thing was getting out of Riverhold and into Ulmenor.
“Look, as lovely as this was, I can’t waste any more time here. I have private business to attend to,” I snapped. The legs of my chair scraped loudly across the floor, making me wince.