Heart of the Dragon's Realm by Karalynn Lee

Author:Karalynn Lee [Lee, Karalynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Romance
ISBN: 9781426894558
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

She wasn’t sure how people could tell, but they seemed to know as soon as they saw her. Merinee demanded details of all that had passed between her and the king. Rendel inquired about her preferences for the wedding ceremony, and even Beatris grinned at her knowingly. On her next trip to the bakery, Emeray glanced up from the dough she was kneading and exclaimed, “Oh, you’ve chosen!”

Kimri put her hands to her heated cheeks and laughed. “I still have some time left in my betrothal period.”

“No one ever decides on the very last day of the year. I would’ve married Samir the day he asked if I could have. I’m so glad. You’ve been good for our king, you know. He’s been staying in the city longer and roving less.”

That startled her. “I thought he never left Helsmont.”

“He doesn’t, not the kingdom. But there are the mines, of course, and plenty of hamlets elsewhere in these mountains, and he used to travel to them often. A restless heart, I think.”

“He shouldn’t change because of me.” She was all too conscious of all the ways in which she was hardly a desirable bride.

Emeray smiled indulgently. “Some people only need a reason. And the seneschal’s been run ragged these past few years. It’s time for our king to attend to his duties again.”

There did always seem to be sleep-shadows under Rendel’s eyes, and she’d seen the way he practically had to ambush the king to get his attention. She’s right. Some of those duties would fall upon her—a thought that would have alarmed her once. But now that she knew the folk of the keep, she didn’t think she would have any trouble.

She wrote Dereth, somehow finding words to describe her new feelings about the betrothal. He would be relieved she hadn’t run away or otherwise ruined this match. And she knew he would be happy for her. He hadn’t wanted her miserably married. If there had ever been rumors about the mountain-king, like there had been about that one Anagard lord and his women servants, Dereth would have never consented to the match.

But although her brother usually found time to scribble at least a few sentences in reply, no response came. Did I shock him wordless? Perhaps she’d written too much about her own feelings and not enough about Tathan’s, and he thought hers a one-sided infatuation. That had been the one time she’d truly seen him tongue-tied, when he’d discovered her flirting with the terrified stable hand in Anagard. He’d eventually recovered enough to tease her for weeks afterward.

But trader after trader came to Helsmont without a letter from Dereth. She even asked Merinee about sending a messenger, who would be able to wait for a response.

“Your brother may be in constant battle,” Merinee said in one of her rare serious moods. “Traders say it’s gotten bloodier in the riverlands as of late.”

Her mind shuddered away from the thought of Dereth lying injured on the battlefield, or even dead.

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