Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
“Everything you put in your mouth is tested by a servant boy before it’s brought to you.”
Her tone was sharper on this, “Aramus!”
“The men are at your door. We are on the second floor, but they also prowl under our window.”
“Husband,” she whispered, her tone on that much changed.
“I would have you safe, Ha-Lah. In his past, before they were wed, Drakkar had bedded the servant who attempted to murder his wife. He did not think she had that scheming in her. But she did. It was not his hand who poisoned his princess, but I can guarantee you, when he discovered whose hand it was, he felt as if he’d tipped the vial himself.”
“You’re close with Cassius,” she said in reply. “It appears you respect Mars. Also Prince True. And Cassius clearly holds deep regard for you. How do you think Cassius would act if an attack on you, any attack, my king, was instigated?”
“I would not like to find out, not only because Cassius’s sword would be mine in vengeance, and it would put him at risk, but because that might mean I had lost you.”
He felt the silk rustle, he waited for her to reach out to him, but she settled before she did.
“How do you know him?” she asked softly.
Aramus wasn’t certain, but that might be the most personal question she’d asked him throughout their marriage.
Or, perhaps, the only one.
And he gave her an answer without delay.
“Many years ago, when I was still prince, and very young, we were in a port city on the eastern coast of Airen. We were in a pub. We were at the rum. Cassius and his men were there, and they were at the whiskey. A game of tuble ensued. I beat him soundly and respected his and his men’s manner when I did. None of us were near sober, it could easily have slipped out of hand, but his good-natured loss struck me. We decided to take our…revelry elsewhere—”
“With a visit to doxies,” she murmured through the dark, fortunately sounding amused.
“Yes,” he agreed through a grin.
“And as men in manly endeavors, bonds were formed amongst drink, gambling and prostitutes,” she surmised, still sounding amused.
“Something like that,” he muttered, and carried on, “He knew not I was prince, I knew not he was. As men do when a good time was had by all, we made vague plans to meet again a year after in the same place for the same festivities. I honestly didn’t intend to go. And then I did, something drawing me to again spending time with him and his men. I did it thinking that he would not be there. But he was.”
Aramus paused a minute before he finished.
“It took four such reunions before he admitted he was a crown prince. I was…affected by him sharing this about himself. It was something I well knew could put him in danger. But he trusted me with it. So I gave the same in return. And in our years of knowing one another, neither of us have given the other cause to regret it.”
“He seems a good man to me,” she remarked.
“He is.”
“He is close with Mars,” she noted.
Aramus nodded on the pillow until he realized his wife couldn’t see him and he stopped.
“They are like brothers. Cassius came as a young man to train with Ares’s armies. He is two years older than Mars. He stayed from age twelve to fifteen. After he left, Mars came to Airen to train with their soldiers. He was in Airen for two years. The bond was formed through that, but they already knew each other and played together as children when their fathers met for business between the realms.”
“They look so much alike, you could think they were brothers. But they act like blood, so I suppose they just are,” she said.
“They just are,” he agreed.
“He has much the same with you, if not looking alike,” she said, sounding like she was smiling.
“We do not have the history, but…” he hesitated before sharing, “he lost his wife, and when the babe she gave him as her last gift was old enough to sail, he came to Mar-el. He stayed some time. He could not be around things that reminded him of her. But I did not feel he shirked much grief when he was with us.”
“That is sad,” she whispered.
“It was,” he replied.
“Mars greeted you as a brother,” Ha-Lah noted.
Ah.
His beautiful, crafty wife.
“This he did,” Aramus confirmed. “And I know where you’re aiming with this, wife, but they are but two players on a board filled with many. There are those who are friends, and you’re correct, those two are friends. But there are also those who are arrogant, those who are devious, those who are covetous, those who are cunning, those who are naïve, those who are imprudent. I walk that board, knowing who I can trust, and all the others I cannot. You do not walk that board, Ha-Lah. You do not walk it at all.”