The Common Girl by Tanya Bird

Author:Tanya Bird [Bird, Tanya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tanya Bird

Chapter 21

Tyron took a young gelding from the stables and galloped away from the castle. He had no destination, only anger. Weaving through the dense pines, he pushed the eager horse as hard as it could go, jumping obstacles that lay in his way and feeling the sting of low branches as they whipped his face. His horse came to a skidding halt at the edge of a rock-filled stream that was too wide to jump and too hazardous to plough through. The gelding panted hard beneath him, scratches trailing down to his hooves which were buried in the muddy edge of the water.

Tyron folded over the horse’s frothing neck, trying to arrange his thoughts into sense and calm. It did not help when he realised where he was. It was the exact spot he had stood with Aldara months earlier when the air had been too cold to satisfy her desires. What had she said that had made his pulse quicken and mouth turn dry? He could not remember. He should have been thankful for the fading memories, but instead it panicked him, because they were all he had left.

There was a selfish part of him that wished she were still at Archdale. She had centred him, calmed him, and been his only source of comfort. She also held the power to undo all of those things, to make him restless, illogical and afraid. The sound of her laughter still rang through the surrounding trees, a haunting reminder that she was still his, despite a piece of paper that said otherwise.

He had sent Leksi south to bring back information he could use to sever the tie. Anything that would save him from his obsessive thoughts. Indifference would suffice, news of a betrothal would have worked, though his head pounded at the possibility. Instead Leksi had spoken of a wasting girl whose dresses were turning to rags. He had almost gone to her himself when told of the boar, but to what end? Instead, he had told Fedora to send dresses he knew she would not wear, and had organised for Lord Thanos to send a working dog that would protect her sheep so she would not have to. He could not bring her back to this life, no matter how much he wanted it for himself.

He needed to focus his energy on his kingdom and people. With grain supplies dwindling, it would only be a matter of time before they fell short of their commitment to Corneo. And then what? Hunger would drive King Nilos’s men to the border to take what was his by birthright. Hunger did that to people. They needed the support of the Zoelin army if they were to prevent another war. King Nilos would not be foolish enough to send starving men up against a force that would eradicate them, leaving the throne vulnerable. Every Zoelin soldier was the equivalent of five Corneon men.

But the cost of the alliance was adding up. Each day that passed, King Jayr tightened his inked grip on Syrasan.

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