Circle In The Deep (The Outcast Royal Book 1) by Aaron D. Schneider & Michael Anderle

Author:Aaron D. Schneider & Michael Anderle [Schneider, Aaron D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2021-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

“What exactly are you asking me, Hazarbed?” Prince Tarkhind asked, his voice dangerously cold.

Guuhal would have laughed at the role reversal from his conversation the day before had the stakes not been so dire. Instead, he gave the servant who came to refresh the prince’s cup a warning look and the experienced retainer responded with the slightest nod of acquiescence. The cup was filled, the carafe left upon the table, and the man vanished.

Besides the two royal guards at the gate to the palatial gardens, the Hazarbed and his prince were utterly alone with the horticulture and a bevy of drowsy songbirds.

“It is not my aim to question you or your decisions, my prince,” he said and wondered if what he felt was like walking on brittle ice. “But as I seek to do your will, what I don’t know can hurt my efforts and thus hinder your plans.”

Tarkhind turned his gaze to a copse of trees that were his favorite and his dark gaze roved across the elegant twists and curves of the trunks. The silence stretched, interrupted only by the mostly intermittent birdsong, and the guard commander wondered if he’d been wordlessly dismissed.

His father was no treat but this boy is something else altogether, he thought as his fingers tightened on his staff of office. And when did he become so old?

The guard commander’s eyes narrowed when he saw the patches of white at the handsome royal’s temples and the strands of gray that marred his majestic black mane.

“Who is getting in our way?” the prince asked at last and took a sip without looking away from his trees.

“It is not as simple as that, my prince,” Guuhal said quickly and his stomach squirmed at the direction this conversation was taking. “The simple fact is that it is not sustainable. The first round of this new quota and the complications have already started to pile up. We can’t keep doing—”

“How long have you served Jehadim?” Tarkhind asked and cut him off abruptly.

The guard commander felt the net underfoot even though he couldn’t yet see the cords but he knew there was nothing for him to do but answer.

“Twenty-seven years as a royal guard, my prince,” he said. “Twenty-two years under your father and twelve of them as his Hazarbed. Five years under you as your Hazarbed.”

“And before that, you served in my father’s armies as a Kushadi lancer, didn’t you?”

“Yes, my prince.” Guuhal nodded warily. “Only for three years but all of them on campaign or outrider patrols.”

Tarkhind held the cup to his lips but did not drink and his breath caused a slight ripple across the hot mint tea.

“Thirty years of service,” he said, the cup still perched against his lower lip. “I have difficulty believing you survived this long by not answering a question posed to you by your prince.”

He stifled a frustrated growl as he bowed his head.

“My apologies, my prince.”

“I want names, Guuhal,” his sovereign said and a scowl touched the corners of his mouth.

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