Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Cassius instantly relaxed.
Watching this, True decided she’d be good for him. The man he was growing up in a den of vipers, he’d become accustomed to being quick to strike.
Elena could be lively and engaging, but for the most part she was mellow and spiritual.
True sensed Cassius could use a bit of all of that in his life.
“Good gods, people, we’re all adults. Can we not get along for one breakfast?” Father broke in to say, exposing a rare moment where he seemed attuned to the atmosphere and an even rarer moment of wishing to do something about it. “Now, someone, hand me the preserves.”
And there was the reason.
He wanted everyone to get along long enough for someone to pass him the preserves.
Vanka reached and handed the pot to her king.
“Melisse,” Elena called, and received her mentor’s attention. “If you’d like to come with us, you know you’re more than welcome.”
“Thank you, my sister,” Melisse said in a manner True knew she was about to decline. “But it’s been some time since I spent any in Notting Thicket. It’s my favorite city outside The Enchantments. And if there’s time, I’ll head to Go’Doan and meet with some friends.”
“I didn’t know the Thicket was your favorite city outside The Enchantments,” Mercy remarked to Melisse.
“Sky Bay may have the architecture, but the Thicket has all the charm,” Melisse replied.
Mercy sent her a small, but genuine smile.
Gallienus clearly opened his mouth to speak, seeing as Cassius warned on a rumble, “Not one word.”
True turned his attention to the Airenzian king and watched him clamp his mouth shut with defiant eyes on his son.
True then turned to Farah and said quietly, “You should have some time with the women before we go. We’re in no rush. You’ve all grown close and I know they’ll wish to make certain you’re in as good of spirits as you can be before they leave you.”
She smiled up at him and nodded.
She didn’t often speak at the breakfast table. She preferred quiet, intimate conversations, not only with him, but, he’d noticed, with anyone.
He greatly liked this about her.
He had often, in his adult life, had thoughts of what he wished his life to include (these most frequently coming when he was in a tent, on a hopeless campaign that Carrington, through his father, had ordered him to take his men on).
True was not foolish enough to think, when he was king, he could broker a lasting peace with the other realms and sail smoothly through his reign.
Taxes needed to be paid, and people did not like paying taxes.
Services needed to be offered, and many thought they were never good enough or delivered fast enough.
And people had an alarming tendency to simply refuse to find ways to get along.
But at the end of each day, he’d hope to go up to his private rooms in the castle, to his wife, and share a quiet intimacy. Dine with their children and discuss their days. Have some small amount of normal after a lifetime of royal.
In this, Farah was like an answer to a dream.
So yes, he greatly liked this about her.
As he greatly liked everything about her.
Not mostly, but it must be said, gazing upon her.
Her beauty was incandescent.
And last night he’d learned her laughter was the most pleasing sound he’d ever heard.
“You also should select a servant to travel with us,” he told her.
“I can see to myself.”
“You need to select a servant to travel with us,” he repeated.
“True, I can—”
He bent closer to her. “You are not princess in name, not yet, but you are princess. Select a servant to travel with us. I’ll not have my intended not tended.”
She smiled at him.
Indeed.
Incandescent.
“Can’t we hire ones at the inns where we’ll be staying?” she asked.
“I’ve no idea. I don’t need a servant to unlace me.”
“So you’re traveling without a servant.”
“Of course.”
She started quietly laughing.
He tipped his head. “This is funny?”
She shook her head. “These clothes I have to wear in this land are most odd, but they’re warm. However, they’re not an insurmountable problem without a solution in the putting on and getting out of. If I need it, can’t you lace me?”
“Of course he can’t lace you,” his mother snapped, bringing True’s head around her way. “That’s not only absurd to ask of a prince, it’s indecent.”
True felt Mars’s energy shifting to angry, and Cassius’s shifting to controlling his friend.
But for once, Cassius’s aim was faulty.
“Mother, if you ever again use that tone with Farah, after we’re wed, we’ll move to Firenze and never return.”
His mother paled.
His father’s head came up.
Vanka and Johan went still.
True felt Silence’s eyes shoot to him.
Farah’s hand clutched his tightly.
True remained focused on his mother.
“Am I understood?” he asked.
Her jaw moved as she ground her teeth.
“Am I…understood?” True pressed.
“True,” Farah whispered.
“Mother,” True prompted.