The Splinter King by Mike Brooks

Author:Mike Brooks [Brooks, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780356513935
Google: vsXvDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B08M5ZBNLK
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2021-07-12T23:00:00+00:00

Daimon

It had been an awkward few days. Yarmina had been true to her word, behaving in all the proper manners towards him. In fact, Daimon felt they had regained a little of the friendship they had when they were children, despite the different circumstances. Then again, perhaps it was not that different: as children, they were brought together by the whims of their parents, had no option but to spend time around each other, and developed a loose friendship in the manner children had in such circumstances. Now, Daimon was in his position at Black Keep due to his duty in his brother’s absence, and Yarmina was here because of her father’s instructions.

It was also true that Yarmina was engaging company. She was intelligent and had a quick humour, seeming genuinely interested in how Naridans and Tjakorshi were living together. She would offer observations, comparing things to how they were at Darkspur; not in a manner intended to disparage Black Keep, but to discuss differences and similarities. She even wrote a poem for Saana and him, using paper and ink and quill she apparently kept on her at all times, for just such an eventuality.

And yet . . .

Daimon found her easy to talk to, mainly due to the half-faded memories of their times as children, which broke down some of the walls he would have felt when interacting with a noblewoman, especially an unmarried one. She was, in some ways, easier to talk to than his own wife, simply due to the fact that there was so much shared context between them. Saana was learning about Narida in the same way as Daimon was learning about the Brown Eagle clan, but there were some things he doubted he would ever be able to make her truly understand. With Darel gone again, so soon after their only communication for weeks had been conducted in a stilted manner through a wooden door, conversation with Yarmina was . . . nice.

Was that the point? Faced with his blunt rebuff of her visit, was this Yarmina’s next tactic; not to save face with her own father, but to continue her attempt to drive a wedge between Daimon and Saana, by highlighting how better suited she was to him? Was Daimon being overly paranoid, exceptionally arrogant, a mixture of the two, or neither? The rest of the Darkspur contingent certainly took fewer steps to preserve their lady’s honour than might have been expected, since often neither Yarmina’s maidservant nor her cousin Sar Omet were present when Daimon spent time with her, in defiance of propriety. Daimon had seen Sar Omet casting considering glances at him when he thought Daimon was not looking.

Saana, meanwhile, seemed thoroughly unconcerned by the whole thing. “Your wife trusts you,” she said to Daimon bluntly. “If you would spend time with the girl, do so. Just do not leave your wife to deal with all the issues of the town.” And that had been that.

It had been a warm day, but a wet one, and a storm was sweeping in off the ocean from the south-east.

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.