Exile by Vanderlinden Colleen

Author:Vanderlinden, Colleen [Vanderlinden, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Peitho Press
Published: 2016-06-22T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Shannen woke up to find that she was alone, just as she’d been when she’d finally fallen asleep. She rolled onto her back and stared at the dark wood plank ceiling. She had been foolish to confide her worries to Daarik. It would have been best to keep on as she had been.

Then again, now she had a better idea of where she stood with the warrior she’d married. She sat up and her gaze landed on the sealed letter she had written to her uncle. Elrek would be expecting that, and she should have delivered it the previous night. Too much time had been spent fantasizing and wondering over things that weren’t really there, things her lonely, lustful mind wanted to see. She was smarter than that.

She knew better.

She tossed the blankets off of her and swung her legs out of bed. The stone floor was warm beneath her bare feet as she padded to the washroom to clean up and dress. As she did, she kept noticing the band of silver on her finger. Daarik always wore his as well, and she had wanted to believe that maybe they had the beginnings of a true partnership. Not love; she would be a fool to expect that. Royal marriages were never about love. Maybe friendship. Something more than the lust that burned when he looked at her, because lust eventually faded, and even at its strongest, wasn’t enough to tie a man to anyone. As her mother had learned, many, many years ago.

Shannen shook her head. She had not thought about her mother in a long time. It was not the time to start doing so now.

She braided her hair and pinned it up and put her scarf on. She glanced at herself in the small looking-glass over the wash basin and took a deep breath. Hopefully she could deliver the letter to King Elrek quickly, grab something from the kitchen, then pick up her next batch of books from Janara without having to deal with too much nonsense from the Maarlai.

It was not that she feared them. She truly had no reason to. If it ever came to it, she knew very well that she could defend herself. Women in the kingdom of Lyon knew better than to leave their defense to anyone else. At first, she had tried to be agreeable, but it had become more clear in her time with the Maarlai that some wanted to be the exact opposite of agreeable. After having a few too many of the males mutter suggestions about what they’d do if she didn’t belong to Daarik (a concept she hated with a passion) she’d taken to wearing a small dagger strapped to her thigh, under her dress.

She knew though, that the instant she used it, they would just have another reason to hate her, self-defense or not.

She shook her head. It was not worth moping over. She was out of her uncle’s home, at the very least. Away from the prying eyes of those in his court.

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