AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“One minute!” I shout back, quickly gathering my bearings as I get off the couch and rub the sleep out of my eyes.
When I open the front door, I find Oberon standing there with his sister.
“See,” Iris says with an irritated wave of her hand in my general direction, “you were worried about her for nothing. She was just sleeping in late.”
“No,” Oberon says, studying me closely, “something happened. What is it?”
“Come in.” I step to the side to give them room to enter. “I have a lot to tell you. Some of it I’m not at all proud of.”
After I fill them in on my experience at Kyan’s house, both are stunned but for very different reasons.
“I can’t believe you drank anything that mad man gave you,” Iris says condescendingly, pouring salt into a fresh wound.
“Iris,” Oberon admonishes. “Her mother sent her there. Why would she expect him to drug her? It’s not exactly the first thing I would have thought of either. There’s no blame to be placed here.” Oberon turns to me. “I’ll do what I can to find him. He couldn’t have gone far.”
“Don’t waste your time, brother,” Iris says. “You’ll never be able to find a man like that unless he wants to be found.”
I hate to agree with Iris, but she just voiced my own thoughts.
“I think she’s right. Even though I want to tear this town apart to look for him, he’ll be almost impossible to find. Kyan is brilliant. He won’t leave a trail we can follow.”
“So you trust him to take care of the sphere?” Oberon doesn’t look convinced that’s the best course of action.
“Strangely enough, I do. Our time will be better spent on things we can control, like the vote tonight.”
“I have to say,” Oberon sits up a little straighter on his seat beside me on the couch, “I was surprised you agreed to this vote for power so readily. I assume you have a plan to win?”
“Not exactly.” I hate to admit it, but it’s the truth. “This is what I know. Half the lords will vote for my father no matter what. They’re loyal to him and would never vote for anyone else no matter how qualified they are. Half the lords will vote against my father because they hate him. A horse could challenge him for the crown, and they would vote for the horse.”
Iris laughs. “A horse! That’s funny.”
Oberon chooses to ignore her outburst. “Then how can either of us win? It sounds like we’ll be at a stalemate.”
“The only person we have to win over is Lord Finch. He’ll be the tiebreaker.”
“And how do we work this miracle? Do you know him well?”
“Unfortunately, Lord Finch tends to keep to himself. He views royalty as overprivileged wastes of time.”
“He sounds like someone I would like,” Iris says, “but how will the two of you prove your worthy of his vote?”
“She has a point,” Oberon says.
“Thankfully for us, Lord Finch wants something that my father has always denied him.”
“And what is that?”
“He wants a ship so he can return to Aos.”
“Why does he want to do a fool thing like that?” Iris asks.
“He wants to be reunited with his family . . . in death.”
Oberon considers this morbid bit of information before speaking. “I know why I wouldn’t grant such a request, but why has your father refused to give him a ship?”
“He doesn’t want to waste a ship that we might need later.”
“Cruel but practical,” Iris says before standing from her chair. “Well, it sounds like you have a handle on the voting situation. I’m going to return to our vessel. Uri may need my help.”
