Enchanting the King by E. D. Walker

Author:E. D. Walker [Walker, E. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EDW Books
Published: 2016-07-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Thomas wasn’t surprised Llewellyn wanted to lecture him about his talk with Princess Aliénor—he was only surprised the magician waited as long as he did. Llewellyn had let Thomas retire to his own bedroll and sleep the night through. Indeed, the magician did not broach the subject until they were up and riding beside the river the next morning. “What were you and the Jerdic princess talking about last night, my king?”

Thomas gathered his reins and idly glanced about to see how close the others were. Aliénor—Princess Aliénor—rode toward the back, surrounded by Thomas’s men and her ladies. Thomas and Llewellyn were a little ahead of the others, within calling distance, but not so close that anyone could hear their conversation. Thomas sighed as he reconciled himself to his lecture.

“Well?” Llewellyn said, raising one pale eyebrow.

“Well what?”

“What did the two of you talk about?”

“Nothing that I will tell you.”

“You trust her?”

Thomas gritted his back teeth. Llewellyn’s paranoia had kept them alive many a time, but it could be wearing. Especially in this instance, when the magician was not entirely in the wrong. “She is the Jerdic princess. Of course I don’t trust her.” Yet that was a lie, wasn’t it? He’d trusted her with his life several times. Even last night. She could have easily slid a knife between his ribs and slipped away into the dark. Still, he’d let her sit close enough to him that he could hear each breath she took, feel her shoulders brush against his arm. Smell her hair, her skin.

Llewellyn studied Thomas’s face. “She’s rather young for court intrigue, I grant you.”

“Rather young for me, you mean.”

Llewellyn’s pursed his lips in a look that almost certainly meant, You said it, not I. He was a wise man as well as a magician, and he knew when to keep his mouth shut. Llewellyn tilted his head side to side in a so-so gesture. “Certain sure, the princess seems very kind, very generous. But she is young, and perhaps she doesn’t understand as well as you do the consequences.”

Anger spiked in Thomas’s belly, sharp and hot, but he kept his voice even. “Consequences?”

“It’s clear to everyone here the girl is half in love with you. Even her idiot husband saw that.”

“Llewellyn.”

Llewellyn must have heard the warning in his king’s voice, but the magician only shook his head and leaned closer, made his voice even more urgent. “If her dear brother-in-law, the Jerdic king, thinks you have trifled with the girl’s honor, it will mean war with Jerdun. Again. You know the man wants another chance at seizing our lands. Don’t offer him so convenient an excuse. Not over something like this.”

“I’m not trifling with her.”

“But you can’t marry her, can you? The Jerdic king will want to keep her lands in his family. Moreover, after so many years without a queen, I don’t think our people will take kindly to a Jerdic princess. ‘A Jerdic princess to replace our dear departed Queen Rosamund? What is ol’ Thomas thinking?’ They’ll be suspicious of her, angry.

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