Zendar by K T Munson

Author:K T Munson [Munson, K T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503279377
Published: 2014-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

“Lotus”

“This is really good,” Azel said to Juni.

“Thank you mistress,” Juni said with complete pleasure.

Azel sat in the dining room with many different desserts spread around her, and she had just taken a bite of a cocoa cake. As their wedding drew closer, only two days more to wait, Azel was making the final preparations. Of all the chores she had done lately, cake tasting seemed to bring her the most pleasure. She nearly blushed at the thought, considering how much pleasure she had really been getting.

“Did you and Mabel make these?” Azel pointed at the flowering lotus made of heavenly frosting.

“Mabel did,” Juni said with a slight blush, “She is very good at decorating; my skills are not nearly as refined.”

“I have always loved the lotus,” she said, touching the stiff frosting before putting it to her lips. “It seemed as though it was reaching up to embrace the heavens.”

“His Liege requested that the lotus be red, and should they please you, would decorate the plate of every guest,” Juni said with a soft smile. “He is very much altered by you.”

Azel smiled as she picked up the plate with the lotus on it and set it before her. “My grandmother grew lotuses in our garden. She would wear them in her hair, and when we sent her back to the planet we surrounded her with lotuses so that they would always be with her.”

“Here, lotuses are only permitted within the royal garden,” Juni said. Her head rested on her hands. “Your family must have been very well off.”

Azel’s eyes turned sharply on Juni in surprise. “They were a gift.”

“Just as you were a gift onto us,” Juni said, taking Azel’s free hand. “The Liege was driven by desire to conquer the world and it made him cruel to his enemies. He once pulled the heart out of a man’s chest because he was a traitor. I shall never forget the look upon the Liege’s face as he punished the man who had betrayed him. You have tempered his cruelness towards those he takes as prisoners of war because you are the daughter of our enemy.”

Azel had considered the change. It pleased her to have been such a positive effect. Now, instead of instant execution, Aleron ordered trials to be carried out on her fellow countrymen. They were not perfect and most of them were sent to do slave labor, but she was fixing their conditions as well.

A young page entered the room, announcing himself before coming over to hold a letter out to her. “For you, Mistress Azel.”

Azel smiled to the boy. He seemed to come only as close as to pass the letter to her. “I thank you.”

“I accept your thanks,” he answered formally as she carefully took the letter from him.

As he was about to turn she said, “do I scare you?”

He stopped. His entire back was rigid. “Of course not.”

“It is worse to lie to me than to tell me a harsh truth,” Azel said, standing to come around and block his escape.

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.