The Shadow King by Sherry D. Ficklin

Author:Sherry D. Ficklin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA, Fantasy, historical fantasy, teen, Young Adult, historical, medieval, shifters, magic, arthurian, avalon
Publisher: TrueType Press
Published: 2021-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

***

PRIA AND I RIDE OUT, careful to stay to the edge of the palace grounds. The ease of our previous conversations gone, we ride in near silence. Her posture is rigid, her eyes sweeping the forest beyond. She’s worried, scared for my safety after today’s attack. While I’m glad she’s taking her role as my guard so seriously, I’m also irked by it. It’s as if suddenly there is a wall between us, one that I can’t seem to breach. After a time, we stop, letting the horses rest and nibble of some short grass. I pull a blanket from behind my saddle and spread it out, taking a seat and motioning for her to do the same. Though we’ve not wandered too far from the palace, the meadow is secluded, open, and offers us some measure of privacy.

“How did it go with Princess Gven?” She asks, visibly relaxing for the first time since we’d set off.

I shrug, picking at the grass. “She was relieved. Grateful.”

“Oh? How grateful was she?” Pria teases, wagging her brows.

I roll my eyes. “She was disappointed by her new position. I think she hoped for more.”

She stares at me for a moment before speaking again. “Are you no longer considering her for marriage then?”

“I never was,” I admit. “I’m not considering anyone. If today has reminded me of anything, it’s that anyone who stands beside me will forever be a target. I don’t think I’d wish that on anyone. Besides, Delia will have children at some point, I’m sure. I can name her child my heir and be done with it.”

She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “So to be clear, you’ll refuse to marry if only to prevent your queen being a target of those who seek to harm you?”

“You sound disappointed,” I say, noting the tone in her words.

“Not at all. Just wondering if that’s your true motivation, or if it’s just how you’re justifying it to yourself.”

I balk at her frankness. “If you know me so well, what do you imagine my true motivation is?”

She opens her mouth to speak, then snaps it closed on her words.

“No, tell me,” I urge. “I’m curious.”

“Fine. I think you’re scared. Not only of allowing yourself to care for someone, to need someone, but of giving yourself to someone only to lose them.” She hesitates, her lips falling into a frown. “I understand that fear. It is not unreasonable.”

“That may be part of it,” I admit after a moment. “I think I fear not being enough. Though I try, I’ve never felt truly my best, not as a king or as a man. Not as a son or a brother. I’ve always been...lacking. I wonder if you can ever truly be enough when you are spread so thin with responsibilities. I fear adding yet another role in which I will fall short.”

She sits back, her expression surprised. “Most men would not admit their flaws so openly.”

I shrug but say nothing.

“But it’s good, I think,” she continues. “It means you’re aware of them, and you’re trying to be better.

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