To Seduce a Northerner: An MM Fantasy Romance by Diana Stark

Author:Diana Stark [Stark, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

When the last guest is settled in his chambers, Lord Edward surprises Rodrik with an invitation of his own.

‘I would be grateful for your presence’, he says, ‘in my chambers tonight’.

Rodrik blinks. From anyone else, such a proposition would have had only one meaning, and a blatant one; however, it is the heir of Bluegrate he is talking about now.

‘For what purpose?’ Rodrik asks cautiously.

‘Conversation’, he replies with such surprise as if there might have been any other options. ‘Besides, your brother had been kind enough to enclose a casket of Firenzian wine with the carrier who brought the invitation’.

Yes, Rodrik thinks sourly. Arthur can afford such gestures now.

Arthur. Rodrik could have said that here, among the stillness and black branches, he had almost forgotten his older brother ruling from his great seat leagues to the south. But of course that would’ve been a lie. He could’ve never forgotten Arthur.

Not least because he could’ve never forgotten his stare when he had given him their father’s verdict: a good place far from all the centres of law and power is going to be found for Rodrik, and no one outside the family circle would ever find out about his failed experiment.

Failed experiment. Father has always had a delicate way with words, and so did Arthur; however, for the former, it stemmed from a lifetime of politics, while for latter from chivalric fastidiousness.

Rodrik wonders how well does this chivalric fastidiousness serve him now, now that he is surrounded by men – and some equally dangerous women – who think him to be an utter parvenu unworthy of breathing the same air as them. Yes, he is a great knight, but his rivals are not exactly barrel-bellied wimps, either; Lord Wighelm Torrington, for instance, acquitted himself well enough during the war to have his lands nearly doubled as a reward. Had any other ruler sat on the throne, Rodrik would have ascribed this to Torrington being a cousin to Lady Lavinia, and, therefore, a relative to His Majesty himself; but there is no man on this green earth more stringent in avoiding nepotism than King Osbert, the Second of His Name.

No; Arthur has his work cut out of him.

Over the course of the last months, Rodrik has written to his siblings sparingly. He had described his new life at Bluegrate in exact detail, but did his best to avoid alluding to the events that led him there. If an outsider were to read his correspondence, they would’ve thought that he must have been living in the far north for years.

All of his siblings responded differently. Catherine’s mix of white-hot temper and high-minded idealism prevented her from replying to his letters at all. Rosalind elected to retaliate in kind, point for point, her missives exercises in silken indifference. Martha’s remained an exuberant almanac of hunts, horse-breeding, and seasonal fetes, as if nothing that happened in the outside world could ruffle her own bubble of merry normality at all. Isabella, the youngest sister, wrote like a quietly dutiful child.

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.