AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He couldn’t hold back a soft chuckle. “Sorry, my love. I received a mental communication from a contact inside the palace. I’m afraid my assent was for something he said. In fact, based on this intelligence, I would say no about being immediately summoned. At least if you mean in a polite manner.”
There were multiple ways it could go, though the worst—immediate attack by the king’s army—hadn’t happened yet. And since Ryenil still appeared to be obsessed with Selesta, that one likely wouldn’t take place. He wouldn’t want to risk her being injured. Demands for compliance were the most probable.
“What did you hear?” Selesta asked, leaning forward to look around Tes.
Ber kept his voice low. “He’ll try to abduct you in the night if you camp. I wouldn’t have them set up anything that can’t be abandoned.”
“I assumed he would order me to enter with my honor guard.” The lady’s eyes narrowed. “Is your contact certain? I know his behavior can be erratic, but as set as he was on a marriage…”
With a wry snort, Tes shook her head. “Oh, this is predictable. You’ve marched here with us. He’ll call you corrupted and force you into a quick wedding ‘for your own good.’ It would be better for us to take the offensive than to try to wait.”
“I should’ve suggested you keep your disguises,” Selesta said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Her tone sounded so young and vulnerable that Ber’s heart squeezed. The lady was only twenty, yet she’d been forced into the role of Duchess—one who had to defy the king, at that. No matter how bold and confident she appeared, she hadn’t had the experience many of them had. But her mettle—ah, her mettle put them all to shame. She was the kind of woman he might suggest to Speran for a bride in the distant future.
A thousand years should give them both the required maturity.
“Your Highness?” Selesta asked, worry and curiosity in her tone.
He blinked away his strange turn in thoughts. “Don’t second-guess yourself. I don’t believe it was wrong for us to be seen, even if it has created a slight complication. We’d already planned to fight our way in if necessary.”
“I wanted to protect the baby, but…” Tes’s voice trailed off, but hard resolve settled across her face as she stared at the ever-nearing wall. “This is better. It’s destiny, perhaps, that I confront him directly.”
They fell silent, only the clop of hooves and the pounding of feet filling the air around them. Ber’s gaze slid over the surrounding countryside with its scattered farms and one eerily still village. There were no carts, carriages, or pedestrians on any of the roads he could see, which was unusual so close to the capital city. Of course, the reason became clear once they neared the entrance.
The massive main gate was closed.
Ber had expected the palace itself to be closed up tight, every entrance from the surrounding city guarded. But the gates in the far outer walls? He couldn’t recall a single time that they’d been shut. This grand wall hadn’t even been built the last time Centoi had been invaded—or so he’d read in his history lessons.
Lady Selesta ordered all but her honor guard to head to the spot where they’d decided to set up camp, though she warned her captain to be ready to move. Then their smaller group advanced toward the huge gate preventing their entry.
As they drew to a halt in front of it, Tes let out an angry hiss. “I can’t believe he barred us from the entire city. The coward.”
Ber couldn’t argue with that assessment of the king.
Suddenly, a man appeared on the battlements, his bright yellow tunic standing out against the gray stone. He waved a yellow and white flag high above his head in the pattern of a herald. It seemed the king had left a message for them. Ber’s fingers tightened reflexively around the reins he held as though part of him was preparing to flee.
“His Majesty King Ryenil commands his words be heard by Lady Selesta of Aony,” the herald called down.
Selesta inclined her head, and if she felt distress, it wasn’t evident on her face. “Very well.”
The herald, of course, wasted no time. “By order of King Ryenil, you will show your loyalty to your future husband by capturing the treacherous Prince Berret Eyamiri and his wife, Princess Lora, who has betrayed her people to the Llyalians. Failure to concede will surely cast misfortune and pain upon your marriage. He will force you at every turn if necessary.”
Ber sucked in a breath. The amount of vileness cloaked in those words made his stomach turn. Would Lady Selesta be able to hold out against such threats of abuse? She was so young, and—
“I have betrayed nothing,” Tes shouted, drawing her sword and holding it high.
A quick whistle, and an arrow thudded into a sign only an arm’s length away.
Curse it all.He’d been worried about Lady Selesta.
But he should have been worried about his wife.
Chapter 56
Crystal Clear
Ber tried to maneuver his horse in front of Tes, but surprisingly, it was Selesta who managed the task first. Unlike Ber, the lady was in tune with her mount, for she drew to a neat halt and stood in her stirrups, creating a shield between herself and his wife. Clever. Ryenil wanted Selesta above all, and she understood that well enough to use it.
