Braving the Storm by Xenia Melzer

Author:Xenia Melzer [Melzer, Xenia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy
ISBN: 978-1-63533-676-4
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2017-11-21T05:00:00+00:00

AS SOON as the priestess was out of earshot, Anesha got off her throne, reached behind it, and grabbed the bucket that had been waiting there. After she had parted with her breakfast, she cleansed her mouth with some water a servant brought. Who would have thought being pregnant was such a pain in the ass? At the beginning, Cassia had assured her the violent outbursts of morning sickness would be just a bad memory once she reached her second trimester, and only few women had them throughout their entire pregnancy. As it turned out, she was one of those unlucky few. The faintest smell could trigger her nausea, which was inconvenient for a queen who had to maintain an iron façade to stay in control. Cassia was a big help, with her herbal teas, the salves and potions to make her feel better, and her seemingly limitless patience with a very difficult patient. Still, Anesha was more than happy that the days of her swollen belly would be coming to an end soon. Only a few more weeks, and yet another stone to cement her leadership would be on the playing field. Not that she could relax then—that would never be the case—but breathing would become a little easier, in more than one respect.

Practically immediately after her brother and the barbarians had left, her opponents had come from the shadows to find out whether she was prey or predator. Some of them had paid for this insolence with their lives; others merely had their fur ruffled. With the onset of winter, affairs had been more or less settled within the twin cities, which left Anesha time to deal with her foreign affairs. Erac in particular had proven to be a real nuisance, and there had been times she was tempted to settle the matter of dealing with him permanently. In the end she hadn’t done it, because despite his acting as if he owned her, he was still an important ally, one she couldn’t afford to lose—at least not yet.

The other members of the Confederation had been keeping a low profile until now, plotting their schemes in secret, watching her every move to determine their own course of action. Anesha employed excellent spies, so she knew the leaders of Kre and Sravrana weren’t happy about her ascent to the throne. For the time being, they would follow the example of Medelina and back her up to a certain extent, but only until they found an opening to snatch power from Ummana. Well, they were in for a surprise. Alemba and Eppirat, which were ruled by military forces, were more inclined to do her bidding. They respected blunt force, something the Pack was by definition. Wa’na Atoka, the only city that elected a tyrant every five years, had remained neutral until now. They were the smallest and latest member of the Confederation, albeit not the weakest. Keeping a close eye on them was an absolute necessity. The current tyrant, Lady Allianna na Wa’ra, tended to strike when least expected, and her bite was venomous.

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.