The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

Author:Thea Guanzon [Guanzon, Thea]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-10-02T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

It was rare for Talasyn to regret losing her temper, least of all when Alaric was involved, but by the next morning she had to admit that she’d messed up. There were only eleven days left until the eclipse, and she was nowhere close to weaving a decent shield.

As she marched into the council room after breakfast, Talasyn resolved to be on her best behavior. Not only during the negotiations, but also during the training in the afternoon. As far as promises went, she deemed it rather noble of her. However, it was a promise that took a severe beating when Urduja announced that there would be a banquet later that night with all the noble houses in attendance, to celebrate the Lachis’ka’s engagement to the Night Emperor.

Still, Talasyn managed to give a stiff nod of acquiescence and do nothing more impolite than avoiding Alaric’s eyes, which were regarding her dispassionately from across the table, with no trace of his own outburst yesterday.

Remembering that outburst elicited a most peculiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. Alaric usually had supreme control over his emotions, unlike her. The only times he’d appeared truly furious with her were yesterday and that night in the bamboo cell at the Belian garrison. In those instances, she’d needled him about Ozalus and Gaheris, respectively. His family was clearly a touchy subject.

And, yet, no matter how furious he was, he had never shouted at her. In fact, the angrier he got, the lower his voice became. Now that she thought about it, it was the one trait of Alaric’s that recommended him to her. Yelling meant the orphanage, the caretakers. Talasyn yelled when she was angry because yelling for her was what anger was, how she understood it. There was something fascinating about Alaric’s quiet rage, about how easily he could restrain himself.

It made her feel—

Safe?

All around her, the negotiators were talking. Bartering, compromising, laying out the road for the future. Talasyn was barely listening. Her new epiphany pounded in her ears like blood.

Yesterday, when the Shadowgate had roared forth from Alaric, she’d moved away slightly, but only so that she’d have enough ground to fight back if it came to that. But those had been a soldier’s instincts. She hadn’t flinched. She hadn’t, even just for a moment, been afraid of him.

Talasyn darted a furtive glance at Alaric, hating that she was physically incapable of stopping herself from doing so. All of his attention was on Lueve Rasmey as the daya talked the Kesathese contingent through each step of the wedding ceremony and its corresponding cultural significance in Nenavar, fielding questions and objections from Commodore Mathire all the while. Alaric’s black-gauntleted fingers drummed idly on the table, the motion a focal point with the rest of him being so still. For Talasyn, nonsensical observations and memories began to creep in—the sheer size of his hand, the way it had felt clamped around her waist the time he lifted her away from the edge of the pool—and she hurriedly shifted her focus to Lueve before these could consume her.

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.