Unearth (The Bound Ones Book 3) by Tricia Barr

Author:Tricia Barr [Barr, Tricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

Ayanna

“Ayanna, you look beautiful,” Joran fawned upon entering the room.

Ingrid and Jessa had made her look amazing. Black liner and shadowy glitter made her emerald eyes pop. Face powder easily concealed the bruise on her face and brought out the natural blush in her cheeks. And dozens of little gold flower hairpins winked among her sun-kissed ringlets. She didn’t look like a queen, she looked like a dark Celtic goddess.

“Our guests await,” Joran said. “Shall we go down and greet them?”

He bent his arm in her direction, offering for her to take it. Looking at him now, handsome and smiling at her, all the paranoia she had developed in his absence dissipated. He clearly had her heart on a level that went beyond rational thought. The love she felt for him went all the way down to her core.

Ayanna nodded and slipped her arm through his, and the stage-fright hit her full force in the wake of her dissolving distrust. There were going to be hundreds of people downstairs, expecting regality and authority from her. She was practically a new-born, knowing little more of the world than the inside of this castle, and she barely knew anything about this castle either. How was she supposed to play the role of a queen?

It had been made abundantly clear that everyone knew of her mental state. So perhaps her subjects would not expect her to be at the top of her game. But she would just die if she embarrassed herself in some way, or if she embarrassed Joran.

She inhaled deeply through her nose, hoping that Joran wouldn’t see this sign of insecurity, and the two of them headed out toward the ballroom.

They emerged from the last hallway onto the landing above the staircase, which was now adorned with beautiful flower garlands twisting all the way up the railing. Down below stood hundreds of well-dressed men and ladies, people who knew her as their regent.

How am I going to pull this off?

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a man at the top of the stairs called out to the crowd. “May I present your Shade King, and his queen.”

The crowd fell silent and turned to look up at the couple, and then, all at once, they reverentially bowed their heads.

The anxiety and self-doubt Ayanna felt at the turned-down heads of her people made her want to run, but Joran’s strong arm was like an anchor, grounding her.

“My loyal subjects,” Joran orated, and the people below lifted their heads to give him their full attention. “I want to thank you all for your unwavering service. For thousands of years, you stayed faithful to me, never faltering in your hunt of those that buried me. And thanks to our talented young witch, you were able to finally set me free. Sam, where are you, my boy?”

The crowd opened up in a small circle around an attractive adolescent who looked very awkward and uncomfortable with the amount of eyes on him.

“Ah, there you are,” Joran said, holding his hand out in the direction of the young man who must be Sam.

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