Ashes of Roses (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 4) by Pope Christine

Author:Pope, Christine [Pope, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Valentine Press
Published: 2013-11-12T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

Truly, the rest of the afternoon proved to be as tedious as I had expected, with two exceptions. As I returned to the royal pavilion after dutifully making my rounds, I spied Lord Senric and Gabrinne Nelandre standing very close to one another, their fingers entwined. Probably no one else noticed, or cared; he was not the prize all those girls sought. Well, save one. But I smiled a little as I entered the pavilion, a smile that only broadened as I saw my sister and Lord Sorthannic apparently deep in conversation, oblivious to the jaundiced stare my mother was sending their way.

“You look displeased,” I said casually, signaling one of the servants for a goblet of wine. All that talking to all those young women had dried out my throat most uncomfortably. “I thought you did not disapprove of such a match.”

She lifted her shoulders. “My daughter should be marrying a prince. But since there are none to be had, I suppose she must settle for a mere duke. I just wish the duke in question were someone else.”

Good thing the two subjects of our discussion were so engrossed in their own conversation that they seemed not to notice my mother’s words, for she took no care to keep her voice down. A servant handed me my wine and bowed. I took a sip before saying, “Why? Sorthannic Sedassa seems like a very worthy person.”

“Oh, he is handsome enough, I will grant you that. And he does seem to have some skill on the tourney field. I just wish his father had had the sense to marry a good Sirlendian nobleman’s daughter instead of some commoner from South Eredor!” She uttered the word “commoner” with such bile she might as well have said “whore.”

I did not know why I should be surprised; I had heard much worse from her over the years. Even so, I found myself defending the woman in question, though I had never met her and doubted I ever would. “I have heard that her family is quite prosperous, and in fact owns extensive vineyards in South Eredor. So I do believe there are commoners and commoners, Mother.”

She gave me a blank look. “But they are involved in trade, Torric.”

At that point I decided to abandon the argument. I knew I would never win, and expending the energy seemed a useless exercise. For all her complaining, she would not openly oppose the match, if it were to happen at all, simply because she knew there were few candidates of acceptable rank and age to take Lyarris’ hand in marriage. Lucky for Lyarris, only I as the Emperor had the power to outright forbid her the match, and of course I would do no such thing. If the Dowager Empress envisioned Lord Sorthannic’s mother as some common wench not above stomping the grapes from her family’s vineyard, well, so be it. I did not know the Duke of Marric’s Rest all that well, but I rather imagined he would only laugh if word of such spiteful fancies came to his ears.

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