Read Online Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas - Free Book Online Page A

look—to find him gripping the sides of it so hard his knuckles were white.
    Lysandra, though stiff-backed, did not give Darrow the pleasure of blushing with shame.
    And she was done. Sparks danced at her fingertips beneath the table.
    But Darrow went on before Aelin could speak or incinerate the room.“Perhaps, Aedion, if you hope to still gain an official position in Terrasen, you could see if your kin in Wendlyn have reconsidered the betrothal proposition of so many years ago. See if they’ll recognize you as family. What a difference it might have made, if you and our beloved Princess Aelin had been betrothed—if Wendlyn had not rejected the offer to formally unite our kingdoms, likely at Maeve’s behest.” A smile in Rowan’s direction.
    Her world tilted a bit. Even Aedion had paled. No one had ever hinted that there had been an official attempt at betrothing them. Or that the Ashryvers had truly left Terrasen to war and ruin.
    “Whatever will the adoring masses say of their savior princess,” Darrow mused, putting his hands flat on the table, “when they hear of how she has spent her time while they suffered?” A slap in the face, one after another. “But,” Darrow added, “you’ve always been good at whoring yourself out, Aedion. Though I wonder if Princess Aelin knows what—”
    Aelin lunged.
    Not with flame, but steel.
    The dagger shuddering between Darrow’s fingers flickered with the light of the crackling hearth.
    She snarled in the old man’s face, Rowan and Aedion half out of their chairs, Ren reaching for a weapon, but looking sick—sick at the sight of the ghost leopard now sitting where Lysandra had been a moment ago.
    Murtaugh gaped at the shape-shifter. But Darrow glared at Aelin, his face white with rage.
    “You want to sling insults at me, Darrow, then go ahead,” Aelin hissed, her nose almost touching his. “But you insult my own again, and I won’t miss next time.” She flicked her eyes to the dagger between the old man’s splayed fingers, a hairsbreadth separating the blade from his speckled flesh.
    “I see you inherited your father’s temper,” Darrow sneered. “Is thishow you plan to rule? When you don’t like someone, you’ll threaten them?” He slid his hand from the blade and pulled back far enough to cross his arms. “What would Orlon think of this behavior, this bullying?”
    “Choose your words wisely, Darrow,” Aedion warned.
    Darrow lifted his brows. “All the work I have done, all that I have sacrificed these past ten years, has been in Orlon’s name, to honor him and to save his kingdom— my kingdom. I do not plan to let a spoiled, arrogant child destroy that with her temper tantrums. Did you enjoy the riches of Rifthold these years, Princess? Was it very easy to forget us in the North when you were buying clothes and serving the monster who butchered your family and friends?”
    Men, and money, and a unified Terrasen.
    “Even your cousin, despite his whoring, helped us in the North. And Ren Allsbrook”—a wave of the hand in Ren’s direction—“while you were living in luxury, did you know that Ren and his grandfather were scraping together every copper they could, all to find a way to keep the rebel effort alive? That they squatted in shanties and slept under horses?”
    “That’s enough,” Aedion said.
    “Let him go on,” Aelin said, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms.
    “What else is there to say, Princess? Do you think the people of Terrasen will be glad to have a queen who served their enemy? Who shared a bed with the son of their enemy?”
    Lysandra snarled softly, rattling the glasses.
    Darrow was unfazed. “And a queen who now undoubtedly shares a bed with a Fae Prince who served the other enemy at our backs—what do you suppose our people will make of that ?”
    She didn’t want to know how Darrow had guessed, what he’d read between them.
    “Who shares my bed,” she said, “is none of your concern.”
    “And