The Hollow Crown by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Author:Diana Pharaoh Francis [Francis, Diana Pharaoh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, General, Fantasy - General, Fantasy fiction, Fiction - Fantasy, Science fiction and fantasy
ISBN: 9780451463395
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Published: 2010-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

They entered the gates of the manor and pulled up beneath the portico at the front. Fluted columns held up the broad roof and a flowering vine grew up over it in a pink mass. The rain pelted in fat, stinging drops and the wind gusted.

A footman opened the carriage door and Nicholas regally stepped down. Keros followed, half carrying the regent.

“Sophia, my dear, you must hold on! Do not leave me, my sweetest love! We’ll have you by the fire in a moment,” Keros said in a panicking voice.

They hurried inside.

“Be sure the animals are well cared for,” Nicholas said to the stable hand who’d come out to seize the bridles of the horses, then followed Keros inside. The butler was waiting. Porskip was a tall, spare woman with broad shoulders, a blade nose and weak chin. She was dressed in dark green with orange piping, her skirts severely cut, her lace collar high around her neck.

“These are the Dedloks of Shevring,” Nicholas told her. “Take them immediately to our finest guest quarters. Send tea and brandy and anything else they require.”

Porskip responded quickly and soon Keros and his “wife” were on their way to their quarters, leaving Nicholas alone in the foyer. He stood a moment, then wandered away toward what he supposed would be the sitting room. He’d not gone more than five steps when Alanna Truehelm’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Geoffrey, you’re home. Come upstairs and change out of those wet clothes. You can tell me about the Dedloks.”

She swept out of a salon on his right. She was dressed in a burgundy dosken dress layered over with Tirsol lace. It sparkled with glittering sylveth beads. It was worth fifteen dralions if it was worth a single copper crescent. She wore several rings on every finger and her neck and wrists were heavy with jewelry. She was a fine figure of woman—tall and slender with hair the color of tarnished sunshine, which was piled high in an elaborate coif. He schooled his expression into one of fond welcome. Whatever could be said about Geoffrey and Alanna, they were a love match and well paired. If Geoffrey was a cold-blooded snake, Alanna was a rabid dog who’d eat her own children to get what she wanted. Which might not be too off the mark. Her youngest son was dead. He’d been murdered by Edgar Thorpe in his plot against the king. Nicholas had never been certain that Geoffrey and Alanna had not been part of that plot.

Their eldest son had disappeared years before. It wasn’t generally known what had happened to him. Nicholas knew. The nine-seasons-old boy had run away and spent time on the docks before finding a post aboard ship as a bosun. Then by some crook of fate, he’d become a Pilot. He’d disappeared half a season ago, presumably lost at sea. Nicholas had been unable to discover for certain. Why the boy had run away from his family was the question he’d never been able to answer, though he would have paid dearly to know.

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.