A Cask-Aged Blade: A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy (Rainfallen Book 3) by Benjamin Aeveryn

Author:Benjamin Aeveryn [Aeveryn, Benjamin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

twenty-three

The dragon would reach the city soon. While his friends risked their lives, Errol dined and danced and kept a tight rein on his tongue. He was safe, deep in the stone, and guilty for it. Their work rooting out the conspiracy that had snatched the throne was important, but with that beast on its way, he struggled to convince himself it mattered. This might all be ash in a matter of days. None of the others had truly understood the danger. He’d seen the dragon’s scales glistening in the light of day. He knew the beast. It was madness to think they could stop a thing like that.

“You’ve been invited to dinner,” Lilly proclaimed in lieu of greeting as she joined him in her parlour, waving a note and wafting the scent of bergamot. “At the mayor’s.”

“Is now the time to be feasting and making idle chat?” Errol replied.

“I have places for us at Everdon’s ball on the twenty-second. There is little we can accomplish until then.”

“I should be out there with them… It’s cowardice that keeps me here.”

“Oh, come. Your friends work to stop the beast and clear the endangered districts. Our job is society work. Forget this beast you call a dragon. There are equally vile monsters amongst us in this city. Treason parading beneath our noses. The Unholy Kingdom of Mercia cannot survive with parasites feeding off its heart.”

“It’s just so close now. I can’t keep it from my thoughts. You haven’t seen it, Lilly. It could torch the entire city.”

Lilly tutted and waved the invitation in his face again. “It’s from his daughter. Sigrid.”

“I won’t be good company,” Errol said.

“You will be charming and pleasant. It’s high time you began courting.”

Errol snapped his head up. “What? Wait, what? What are you saying? What’s in that letter?”

“Calm down,” Lilly said with a subtle, knowing smile. “The invitation is for dinner, not marriage. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“She thinks my father will take me back. That must be it. She sees a viscount’s heir, not Errol Tapper.”

Lilly clipped his ear. “Get washed and changed and don’t forget to put a smile on. She’s invited you because you have nice eyes and a passable jawline and a certain clumsy charm. You will not let her down.”

Errol didn’t have the energy to argue further. Perhaps dinner wasn’t the worst idea. If nothing else, it might distract him from this helpless guilt. He would be equally useless moping in Lilly’s parlour as he would be at dinner. Fine. He would go.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.