Rand by Silvia Shaw

Author:Silvia Shaw [Shaw, Silvia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-30T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

“What were you and Pela whispering about at lunch?” asked Valeria as she changed out of her formal gown. “She was quite civil for the rest of the meal.”

Tamasin leaned over and pecked her cheek. “I told her the feud with you had to end.”

Valeria’s eyebrows shot up. “And she agreed? That’s hard to believe.”

“I did mention you were thinking of promoting her to the Supreme Commander of Rand’s armies, but that it came with a proviso that she swears allegiance to you without reservation. She wants the promotion.”

Valeria smiled. “Very clever. I must admit I’m tired of being at odds with her. She’s much more palatable when she’s pleasant.”

“In light of the assassination attempts, we’ll need her more than ever to bring the armies together. It’ll require a strong leader to wield all the cultures into a united fighting force. Every monarch is wary, maybe in awe of her, which will be to her advantage. With the limited time we have to prepare, she’s the only one who could do it.”

Valeria took her hand. “You could, Tam.”

“I prefer to be in the background. I have a network of undercover agents to control and the Dreamers to lead. Pela will make an admirable fighting leader,” Tamasin said and squeezed her hand. “You’ll have to be more tolerant of her too, Val.”

“I will,” Valeria replied with a sigh. “Though it will be difficult. She brings out the worst in me. Will you be taking Savannah back with us to Iona?”

“Only if she wants to come. She’s good for Pela.”

“What! She treats her like a lowly servant.”

Tamasin chuckled. “That was for your benefit. Believe it or not, she respects her.”

“Who would have thought?” murmured Valeria.

“Who indeed? But I wish Pela would tell her. Savannah needs to be here a while longer to hide the medallion until we have everything in place. But it’ll be her choice. If she’s desperate to go, then I won’t leave her here,” replied Tamasin. She gestured toward the door. “We’d better go. They’ll be waiting for us.”

A pleasant breeze ruffled across the Keep as they entered the amphitheater arena. The archery contests were ready to start, and the rows of stone seats were packed.

“This arena is quite an impressive venue for a tournament,” remarked Tamasin as they made their way to the canopied viewing platform at the far end.

After Pela showed them to their seats, she signaled for the archers to begin. Ten competitors to a side, the Queen’s finest archers were to shoot against the strongest from the recruits. The targets were mannequins rather than stationary targets—life-size figures of men wearing hooded capes. An instructor hovered on a horse above, controlling the target like a marionette, making it dash and weave like a running man.

“Clever,” murmured Tamasin. Pela had fashioned the targets to look like the mysterious assassins.

The first bowman, a dark woman in a blue Elite Guard uniform, took her place in the circle. Her back was to the target, a longbow in her hand, six arrows in the quiver.

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