A Marriage of Friends (The Inner Seas Kingdom Series Book 8) by Jeffrey Quyle

Author:Jeffrey Quyle [Quyle, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ingenairii Press
Published: 2015-01-18T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

“You’re going to be engaged, you say?” Kestrel asked a moment later. The girl’s statement was more affirmative than her words the night before. Given what he’d seen and learned about the Uniontown prejudice against Gail’s auburn hair, the stronger claim of an engagement was surprising.

“My aunt has really summoned me to the city to make arrangements for an engagement,” Gail said. “I was sworn to secrecy, so I haven’t said anything. I shouldn’t have told you just now; I should have just said ‘prospects’ again.”

“Are you looking forward to the engagement?” Kestrel asked cautiously.

“I look forward to not being isolated and alone in a house in the country. Is that so bad? Do you know what it’s like to be an outcast?” the young noblewoman asked passionately.

“I’ve got some idea, but probably not like you do,” Kestrel replied.

“I wish you all the best,” Kestrel told her with a touch of formality. Based on what he had heard, he had come to the quick conclusion that she was a girl who would forever be unmarried, despite her earlier marriage, unless her aunt found another blind nobleman. Her news made him feel a different sense of how to think of her, in some inexplicable way.

“You’re going to meet your fiancé?” Gail turned the tables.

“Well, that was exaggerating,” Kestrel said. “I’m on my way to help a girl, someone I was on a journey with. I promised that I’d come to Uniontown to help her family. I hope she’ll still want to see me,” he said with a touch of false modesty.

“Who wouldn’t want to have you around?” Gail gushed. “You’ve got powers greater than any of the sorcerers still in the war. You’re kind and courageous. You’ve got a sense of humor. And you’re good looking, in an elven kind of way.”

She stopped, worried that she had overshot the mark and been too warm in her compliments.

“Will we be in Uniontown today?” Kestrel asked.

“I think so,” Gail equivocated. “I haven’t made the trip many times, but I think we’ll be in the city by dinner time.”

Kestrel slumped down further, exhausted, and feeling the pain from his injuries once again. He fell into an uneasy sleep, and only awoke in the mid-afternoon, when he felt the carriage come to a stop.

He opened his eyes, momentarily confused, and saw that his companion had re-donned her hat and veils.

“What’s happening?” he asked, sitting up straight in his seat.

“We’re in the outer portion of Uniontown. I asked Coplin to stop so that I could refresh myself. We should be at my aunt’s city home in less than an hour,” Gail told Kestrel.

“Would you,” she paused, and Kestrel sensed she was trying to be delicate, “would you like to change into some cleaner clothes?

“I want to introduce you to my aunt, of course,” she added immediately. “And I just wanted you to make the best impression you can, if you have any other clothes. If you don’t them don’t worry at all. With all that you’ve done to get me here safely, she will be eternally grateful.

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