Arrows Tipped with Honey by Jean Gill

Author:Jean Gill [Gill, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The 13th Sign

Chapter Twenty-Four

‘Kermon’s marrying Puggy.’ Mielitta blurted words out as raw as her own reaction when she’d finally made a connection through Steelwing and seen that.

Jannlou sat bolt upright, his eyes wide, shocking blue, indubitably human. ‘But I thought…’

‘That’s not the point! This isn’t about me, or whether he still has… feelings for me. Although I hope he does but not those feelings.’ She held the steel arrowhead firmly but the Citadel scene still shimmered like a mirage, without any sound. Perhaps it was a mirage? Some trick of glamour? What if Kermon had been discovered and now the mages were trying to reach her, to mess with her mind? And she still didn’t trust the beekeeper.

Mielitta rubbed the arrowhead as if to clear the picture it presented in her mind but there was no change. The Great Hall was decked out in wedding trappings: golden lightspheres on the tables, beige garlands of sustenance strung above the tables like canopies above four-poster beds. When the last couple had made their vows, the knight promising to protect and his lady promising to obey, the garlands would break and the gathered assembly would tuck into the wedding feast raining like manna from heaven onto the best silvery platters.

Seven couples stood before the mages’ High Table, hands clasped and in wedding purple. How strange to see Kermon in anything other than his smith’s workwear and leatherette apron or mage’s robe. More than strange to see him clasping hands with the willowy blonde husk who had once been Mage Puggy.

She felt a twinge of something that she refused to name. She’d dreamed that she and Jannlou… a dance and a wedding. Kermon looked so handsome, his smith’s muscles showing to advantage in metal arm rings and his sleek black hair a contrast to the fair beauty beside him.

She wanted to see his face but that too shimmered in and out of focus so she couldn’t read his expression. A smile – but was it genuine? Had he been forced? She couldn’t believe he was in love with Puggy, who could barely speak. Especially when so recently he’d shown strong feelings… Was that what men were like? Strong feelings one minute and with somebody else the next? She glanced at Jannlou, who reached out, squeezed her hand. He showed no sign of having tired of her but how could you tell?

She studied Kermon again, trying to make sense of this impossible scenario. How strange to see Kermon clean, without smuts on his face. His hands must be clean too, especially the one clutching his bride’s.

There, she’d said the word. And Kermon would be wearing his new trophies on his belt. He’d barely had time to forge his engagement emblem before making his married one, she thought. And he hadn’t even bothered to tell them.

‘He can’t hear me,’ she said. ‘Or doesn’t want to. This must be why he hasn’t been in touch.’ She let the anger carry poison through her veins, numbing the pain. ‘He didn’t tell us.

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