The Lion's Court by Michael K. Rose

Author:Michael K. Rose [Rose, Michael K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Return to Granisle

Penny stood stark still, holding her breath. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. She’d met a sovereign before, after all, and had become close friends with her. Besides that, Granisle Castle was not nearly as impressive as Anneli’s palace in Lanion. Perhaps it had to do with that fact that unlike when she’d met Queen Anneli, she knew how momentous this audience with King Edward would be. His decision could either save or condemn the world. Yes, she knew the world was a very big place, and there were lands the people of Emberlyn had never even heard of, but she did not think this was an exaggeration. If Dourok managed to defeat the Lanosh and conquer Gronstave and Emberlyn, she was certain he would turn his gaze to the west. At that point, there would be no one left to stop him, and a man like that did not scheme for two thousand years without contemplating world domination. Lesser men than him had desired it, but they had not had the power to make it happen.

William’s fingers brushed the back of her hand, stirring her from her dark thoughts. She felt the weight of the Lion’s Sword on her hip and thought it odd that she, a stranger to the king, was being allowed into the throne room armed, but she was with William. And if he, a knight of Emberlyn trained for combat, was permitted to face his king with a sword on his belt, she didn’t suppose anyone would see a young woman like her as a threat. That she was carrying a sword would certainly be unusual to them, but no one could imagine she’d be able to get through the king’s guards.

The Lion’s Sword hummed as though daring her to prove them wrong, but she ignored it as they stepped past the threshold of the door which had been opened before them and walked into the throne room of Granisle Castle. It was smaller than she’d expected, and darker as well, a stark contrast to the large, bright entrance hall she’d just been standing in. Light entered only through a stained glass window high up in the wall behind the dais. The logs burning in the two fireplaces on either side of the entrance helped to illuminate the gloom, but only slightly. Even though it was spring, the chamber remained abnormally frigid.

She and William bowed. They crossed halfway to the dais and bowed again. After showing the appropriate respect, they finally reached the spot where, judging by the line of six guards, they were expected to stop.

After a final bow, Penny looked past the guards’ shoulders and into the face of King Edward the Ninth. He was young but looked as though he could handle a sword, at least academically. She knew he’d never seen a day of combat, though. Emberlyn had been at peace with its only rival, Gronstave, for more than a generation. Now she and William had come to tell him that peace was no more.

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