To Love a King (Court of Annwyn) by Shona Husk

Author:Shona Husk
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2014-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Felan climbed the stairs formed out of branches. They spiraled up, around the trunk of a tree. Up here, above the castle, there was more of a bite to the air. Frost gleamed on the bark like silver and the branches were totally bare. Beneath him was castle Annwyn. What had once been the leafy green roof was now dead fingers of twigs reaching skyward. Beyond the castle, the ground was patched brown and white. The snow was spreading. At night, the snow was falling, and it wasn’t leaving during the day. Soon it would snow day and night, and winter would have truly arrived in Annwyn. It cut at him to see the place he loved so cold and desolate.

Snatches of music drifted up from the Hall of Flowers. The party continued…but the wine was no longer flowing so freely. There was no fruit. Soon they would have to source food from the mortal world. He grimaced at the thought. No one would want that job when they expected the power shift to happen in days. Annwyn days. He had no idea how many mortal days had passed while he was recovering.

The time difference wasn’t going to be helping his cause with Jacqui.

The stairs ended at a door. Silver bars crossed the frame like a spider’s web. His mother shifted in the darkness. The spider or the fly?

She stood up and walked over, her skin as white as snow and her eyes as dark as night. “I didn’t expect you to come.”

There was no glimmer of the mother he remembered from his childhood. The woman who’d laughed and chased him around the garden. Those vague early memories had stayed with him. The ones where she’d deliberately hurt his father also remained etched in his mind. His parents arguing bitterly and not bothering to hide it, and then the descent into bitterness and scheming. Was it worth it? Was she enjoying the fruits of her efforts?

He pulled his own cloak tighter around him. He longed for summer; already the cold and mud was depressing. Even the Court was giving up on the bright colors and taking on the darker colors of winter, midnight blues and blood reds, black and deep-bruised purples.

“Mother.” Now he was here he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t love her. He didn’t trust her. And yet he couldn’t walk away without saying something to her before her death.

“Lost for words? Go back to your gambling and dancing. It’s what you do best.”

He was tempted to bite, but she was just goading him, hoping he’d let something slip, a tidbit for Sulia to devour.

“I’m not sure there are any words left to say, Mother, only that I had to come up here and wish you well on whatever we face after death.” He’d love to know why she’d chosen to back Sulia over him, why she couldn’t be happy with what she had, and why the love of his father wasn’t enough. What had gone

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.