Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
They opened when she whispered a drowsy, “Can we discuss putting boys in the path of possible poison again at a later date?”
At that, while smiling broadly in the dark, he realized he knew some other things about his queen.
And they were important.
She had a full heart, a bent of her own to protect things she deemed needed it, and the courage to stand and do that.
“Yes,” he lied.
“Thank you, husband,” she murmured.
“You are welcome, wife,” he replied.
They again fell silent.
And again Ha-Lah broke it.
“I do not drink tea, Aramus.”
He grinned.
Something else he now knew.
“And I know of Frey and Sjofn Drakkar,” she carried on softly. “And I’d like to hear more of them from you.”
Aramus drew in a mighty breath and let it out.
“And you will, my queen,” he replied, just as softly.
“Thank you.”
“It will be my pleasure,” he murmured, meaning it.
She said no more.
Aramus waited until he heard her breath steady.
And then he let himself sleep.
19
The Rubble
Queen Mercy Axelsson
Guest Suite, Second Floor, East Corridor, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
“Shouldn’t we attempt to make headway with the Mar-el?” her husband asked.
“A waste of time,” Carrington answered.
Queen Mercy of Wodell sat curled on the divan, fiddling with a fold in her skirts, her eyes on her fingers’ movements, her attention on her husband and his counsellor.
“I’m uncertain. He’s on the mainland. He’s never on the mainland. We have an opportunity to have his ear,” Wilmer replied. “True says—”
Carrington interrupted him.
And one could say Mercy detested it when Carrington interrupted her husband.
“Yes, and the love of your son’s life is marrying an Airenzian. But she’s besotted with your son. He holds sway over her. With her many…” Carrington spared a glance at Mercy, “assets, she could quickly gain sway over Cassius.”
There was no one on this planet who could sway Cassius.
Except Liviana.
However, she was dead.
That said, with the way he had demonstrated he could care for a woman when he had his wife, if he were to come to feel that way about Elena…
This might be a rarity, Carrington making an utterance that held any merit.
Then again, if Elena remained enamored of True, Cassius would not miss that.
So there it was.
Carrington did not make an utterance that held merit.
“But Cassius has no sway over Gall. They don’t get along. At all,” Wilmer noted.
“Gallienus is weak. The soldiers of his army follow Cassius. And there has always been unrest in his realm. But he, like all his predecessors, chooses to ignore that every male in their land does not wish to look on their wives, daughters or sisters like chattel. I predict he’ll be naught but a figurehead in a year. In fact, Cassius tires of him so obviously, he might force the man to make him regent.”
“I can’t imagine the Airenzian will blindly follow a man married to a Nadirii,” Wilmer said something wise for a change. “In fact, that nation will see much strife due to this union.”
That nation already had much strife and it wasn’t simply the women who were far from fond they lived in a realm where the king and many of the male population had three uses for them: to bed them, to force them into service and to oppress them.
There were also men in that realm who thought this practice was repellant, men even back centuries ago, before the Night of the Fallen Masters, who felt their brethren got their just desserts.
And Mercy had long since suspected Cassius Laird was one of those men.
But those in power would do anything to keep their power.
She knew that all too well.
“And you don’t think an alliance of the strategic mind and might of Cassius Laird and the magicks controlled by the Nadirii along with their prowess in the field won’t quell said strife?” Carrington inquired. “You saw their demonstration tonight. It was breathtaking. And telling, as Ophelia meant it to be. It would be an extraordinary alliance. If it can be achieved, it can’t be beat. Not even by the Firenz.”
Ah.
There it was.
Mercy smoothed out her skirt.
“Not to mention, Cassius clearly has a bond with the pirate king,” Carrington carried on. “This would mean Airen and Nadirii and Mar-el and most important, Wodell all allied against Firenze.
“This makes sense,” her husband murmured.
Mercy quelled a sigh.
Cassius did have a bond with the Mar-el king.
But he thought of Mars as brother.
She did not enter this fact into the conversation. She rarely spoke when Carrington had her husband’s ear.
She found it served her purposes much better to have her words in private.
“Our focus is Gall,” Carrington declared. “Cassius. Ophelia. Elena. Even Serena, if we can manage to charm her in the slightest. She prefers Dellish men for her adventures. There might be a way we can gain some advantage of her there. Perhaps one of True’s men?”
Mercy fought a roll of her eyes to the ceiling.