The King's Guard by Lynne Odessa

Author:Lynne, Odessa [Lynne, Odessa]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Odessa Lynne
Published: 2012-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

8

Leon was not prepared for the carefully worded request to meet with the Joint Royal Council, although he’d been half expecting it to come at any time.

After his time spent seeing to his duties in the Queen’s Court, time during which he’d worked diligently to treat Geran exactly the same as he had treated him yesterday, Leon had gone to his private rooms for a few moments to himself. He’d used those moments to relive every remembered second of Geran’s mouth on him—until he’d been interrupted by his secretary who had delivered the message from the Joint Royal Council.

As King, he ruled absolute, with the significant exception of anything to do with The Treaty. For that, the Joint Royal Council had been formed and they enforced every blasted detail of the generations old document with unfailing resolve. The Treaty was their sole purpose for existing, and they obviously had a vested interest in keeping things the way they were so they could pass their responsibilities on to their own heirs. Or at least that was how Leon saw it.

He made his way to the council chambers that afternoon, wondering if Geran had already discreetly summoned the magic worker Leon had named to help them uncover Marta’s treachery.

He didn’t expect to see Geran already there, standing in front of the long narrow table where the eight members of the Joint Royal Council sat waiting and watching. Marta stood a few feet to Geran’s left, and—his breath hitched when his gaze landed on the man standing between Marta and Ithera. What in the name of The Deity was Braden doing here?

He put aside his disquiet and strode into the room. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Marta turned. “Dear Leon, we’ve been waiting for you.”

“We were all summoned so abruptly we hardly had time to appear promptly,” Ithera said, glaring at Marta.

Marta responded with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m here now,” Leon said. He stopped in front of the council members, staring at each in turn. He couldn’t control the speed of his heartbeat, but he could control his reactions with an iron will he didn’t often put to use. His mother would have been proud. As it was, he kept his hands at his side and his gaze direct, and he resisted every burning impulse to look at Geran standing a few feet away.

Jarvis Y’oY, the council member furthest to the right, spoke quickly. “Your aunt has brought to light a serious concern about your ability to meet the terms of The Treaty, My King.” His words seemed designed to halt further hostility by getting directly to the point of the matter.

Leon knew Jarvis disliked conflict.

In fact, he knew quite a bit more than that about poor Jarvis, at his mother’s urging. In the year before her death, she’d demanded he spend months researching the eight individuals who made up the entirety of the Joint Royal Council. She’d been right, about so many things, and now, more than ever, he knew she had cared about him and his future beyond how he might represent her blood line.

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