Asleep by Elizabeth Darcy

Author:Elizabeth Darcy
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: NPC Books
Published: 2014-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Jess was just about to call for her maids to help her dress for dinner when there was a tap at her door. Sighing, she pushed her dirty hair back from her forehead and hoped it wasn’t Mahlia, come to engage in some more intrigue.

“Tanvir,” Jess said when she saw who stood outside her door. She stepped aside and studied his face as he entered. His expression was neutral, but there was something in his eyes that sent a flood of relief through her. “Beland agreed to the negotiations.”

“Yes, he did,” Tanvir said, not bothering to hide his own relief. “A lot of haggling was required, but we eventually managed to make him an offer with which he was at least satisfied, if not entirely happy. I suspect he’s as canny as we’d feared and that he intended to wait and see which way the wind was blowing with regard to Ellaria.”

“If he’s as canny as he thinks he is, then perhaps he’s canny enough to understand that we’re far more likely to honor our agreements than Ellaria is,” Jess said, not bothering to hide her disgust for Beland.

A grim smile crossed Tanvir’s face. “That may be what ultimately persuaded him to negotiate with us. Beland may be capable of seeing past his own aspirations and avarice to acknowledge that the woman attempting to usurp the Moritanian throne would probably have no scruples about stabbing him in the back as well.”

“He will declare his support at the war council tonight, then?”

“Yes.”

“That means Mahlia will as well. She negotiated a marriage agreement with my parents, but she told me she could not honor the agreement unless Beland were to throw his support behind us as well—for the good of her Realm, of course.”

“Of course,” Tanvir said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “There is some sense to what she says, I’ll grant her that. But it is frustrating to try to reason with those who are so blinded by their own concerns they can’t perceive the greater threat.”

“Doing battle with brains is more exhausting than battling with steel,” Jess grumbled.

Tanvir laughed and shook his head. “You speak truth. Give me a ponderous tome or a melee over this political intrigue.”

“How many men has Beland promised us?”

“Thirty thousand.”

A slow smile spread over Jess’s face. “I suppose he won’t be pleased when he discovers that Mahlia has promised us forty thousand.”

Eyes widening, Tanvir said, “I had no idea she had such numbers.”

“None of us did, which means we’ve perhaps been too lax in the attention we’ve paid Deshira.”

“Indeed. So that gives us seventy thousand troops in addition to our eighty thousand. If Ellaria were to arm every last man, woman, and child in Moritan, we still have the clear advantage.” He looked satisfied, but Tanvir was too grounded in practicalities to let their superior numbers make him overconfident. Still, it lifted a considerable weight from her shoulders to know they would march to battle with such numbers.

Though she’d been preparing for it from

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