Read Online Oria's Gambit by Jeffe Kennedy - Free Book Online Page B

to
claim you as king.”
    A pretty speech—she was good at those—but her
mother’s mouth tightened over unspoken words. “This is why we
should discuss this in private, Oria.” She raised meaningful
brows.
    “No.” Oria straightened her shoulders and
moved to align herself beside him. Not touching him, naturally, but
close enough that he could if he forgot himself and tried. “King
Lonen is part of this. He’s aware that some temple mysteries will
remain secrets from him, so speak as you will.”
    “Is that so?” Rhianna gestured at him with a
languid hand, but her eyes bored into him dark and hard as a rare
moonless winter night. “Then is he aware that he can never
bed you? Their barbarian race thinks nothing of rape.”
    Oria moved slightly in front of him at his
growl, forestalling his retort. “We’ve discussed it. Barbarians
they may be, but the Destrye are also a race of disciplined
warriors. He will not harm me. He has agreed to a marriage in name
only.”
    “Until he loses self-control.” Rhianna’s gaze
bored into him, as if he’d already defiled her daughter in truth,
rather than only in fantasy. “You are innocent of many of the
harsher realities of the world outside our walls, Oria. You cannot
risk this. Not for any reason.”
    “The Destrye have a long and bloody history,
it’s true,” Lonen told her, unwilling to remain silent on the topic
any longer. “As do your people—something I’m sure must be as
well-documented in your texts as in ours. We also have a tradition
of protecting women, who are sacred to the goddess Arill. I would
allow no one to harm my wife—not even myself.”
    Oria didn’t turn his way, but something about
the softening of her posture made him think she paid close
attention. Perhaps she mentally read the truth in his words, so he
strengthened that sentiment, pushing it towards her.
    “Protecting women?” Rhianna’s lip curled,
emotion cracking her visage. “Is that why you murdered defenseless
priestesses in cold blood, one after another, like the animals you
slaughter without care?”
    Lonen didn’t physically flinch, but only
through dint of great will. That night, the first priestess he’d
killed—the way her wondering eyes went dark with death—had reminded
him of the first doe he’d shot. Murder. Yes, it had felt that way,
had gone against everything he believed in. Nothing like the fair
fight of the battlefield. He’d done it out of extremity, yes, but
how to defend an indefensible act?
    “I am—”
    “You don’t deserve a treasure like my
daughter,” Rhianna spat. “You have no idea what she proposes to do
and worse, you mind-dead brute, you won’t be able to help her when
she needs it most. You’ll destroy her instead, like the monster you
are.”

~ 5 ~
    S truck hard by the wave of
guilt and remorse from Lonen—along with a vivid memory image of a
dying doe and blood on his hands—and with surprising, strong
protective feelings of her own, Oria wrestled the potent emotions.
He’d meant every word of what he’d said about not harming her, and
about holding the female sacred—a fascinating and foreign image in
his mind of a fertile goddess bestowing blessings. The truth
resonated in him regardless of the rest.
    She deeply regretted bringing him to this
meeting.
    Once a model of hwil , the former queen
had become like the bay beyond Bára, her emotional state as
unpredictable as the bore tides, and as lethal in their ability to
swamp the unwary.
    “Enough, Mother,” Oria said, venting some of
the emotional tension with some judicious grien that took the form
of a dust devil swirling past the window, briefly whipping the
sheer silk curtains that hung limply by the sides. “We’ve all
committed grave sins in the name of war. You and I may not have
held the knife blades, but we’ve drunk the water bought with the
blood of Destrye children. Something you confessed you knew was
happening and that you did nothing to stop. None of us