Read Online Harshini by Jennifer Fallon - Free Book Online Page B

likely to be Hythrun.”
    Brak stopped and stared at her, afraid she had already heard about Damin and Adrina, but then he realised that even if she had, Hablet had been planning this invasion long before the two of them met. “How could that be?”
    “Hythria and Fardohnya have not always been separate nations, Brak. You should know that.”
    “Fardohnya split from Hythria before I was born,” Brak pointed out. “And believe me, I was born a very long time ago.”
    “They formally became separate nations during the reign of Greneth the Older Twin,” she reminded him. “That was about twelve hundred years ago.”
    Brak nodded. “Greneth was the twin brother of Doranda Wolfblade, as I recall.”
    “Ah, you do know your history then. Well, the split was quite amicable by all accounts. Greater Fardohnya, as it was known then, was a huge country; much too vast to govern effectively. Hythriawas the largest province, governed by the Wolfblade family. Greneth married his sister Doranda to Jaycon Wolfblade, gave them Hythria to rule as the High prince and princess.”
    Brak found himself impressed by Teriahna’s knowledge, but no closer to the knowledge he sought. “I still don’t see…”
    “Then let me finish,” she chided. “As part of the agreement to separate the two nations, Greneth signed a pledge that in the absence of a male heir to the Fardohnyan throne, the eldest living Wolfblade would automatically inherit the crown. The agreement has never been revoked.”
    “I’ve never heard of it before.”
    “Well, until now, there’s been no need to worry about it. Hablet is the first Fardohnyan king in twelve hundred years who’s failed to get a son.”
    “How many others know about it?”
    “Enough that Hablet is worried. When your king keeps producing daughters, people start going through the archives. We only stumbled across it recently ourselves. Like you, we were curious about Hablet’s obvious obsession with Hythria.”
    “I’m still not certain I understand what he hopes to achieve by invading Hythria.”
    “He needs to destroy the Wolfblade line. If there is no living Wolfblade, there is no heir. If there is no heir he can legitimise one of his bastards.”
    “Wouldn’t it be simpler, not to mention cheaper, to hire one of your assassins?”
    “Are you kidding? Do you have any idea what we charge for assassinating a High Prince? Trust me, an invasion, even a prolonged one, would be cheaper.”
    Brak smiled, not entirely certain she was joking.
    “Anyway,” Teriahna continued, “he tried that, and we refused. Call it professional ethics, but we draw the line at kings and princes. The death of a ruling monarch tends to create unrest and draws unnecessary attention to the Guild and that’s bad for business. We are strictly apolitical.”
    “What a comforting thought,” he remarked wryly.
    She smiled. “I forget you are Harshini, sometimes, my Lord. Does all this talk of killing distress you?”
    “Not as much as it should,” he admitted. “So how long has Hablet known about this forgotten law?”
    “A long time, I think. He made Lernen Wolfblade an offer for his sister Princess Marla when he first took the throne. You can imagine Lernen’s reaction. He agreed to the offer at first and then changed his mind and married Marla to some rustic Warlord from the north of Hythria, just to add to the insult. Hablet has never forgiven him for that either.”
    “So, for the sake of a forgotten law and a thirty-five-year-old insult, Hablet is going to invade Hythria?”
    “That’s about the strength of it,” she agreed. “If Damin Wolfblade and Narvell Hawksword are killed protecting Hythria, which is a real possibility, and Lernen dies, which is also likely to happen sooner rather than later, according to my sources, there are no more male Wolfblades and Greneth’s pledge is void.”
    “Marla has other sons.”
    “Stepsons,” Teriahna corrected. “She has only two natural-born sons and