Read Online Queen's Heart: An Arthurian Paranormal Romance (Arthurian Hearts Book 2) by Phoenix Sullivan - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Phoenix Sullivan
Ads: Link
would have been in other circumstances. But she knew what she would offer before I even spoke. A thing more precious than rings and jewels.
“I know. To the winner goes a kiss.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
YSEULT
How I could have suffered through those dark days without Drustan and Palomides to distract is beyond me. Mother and Brangien were there at my every beck, of course, offering love and compassion when I sorrowed and a firm hand when I faltered. But so deep was my despair I feared I would drag them down and drown them too.
Drustan and Des, though—as Drustan had taken to calling Palomides who urged me to follow suit in friendship—offered solace Mother and Brangien could not.
Something had changed between them. Where before they were like two stags in rut circling one another and waiting to charge, now they were easy and free with each other. One minute rivals, still to be sure; the next, like two old friends at a tavern table.
“Don’t encourage them to love you,” Mother warned. For their good, I thought she meant. But no, too late I understood her concern had always been for me.
Brangien had gone numb, swooning over Des who ignored her nearly to the point of rudeness. Even when he did acknowledge her, he spoke to her as to a sister.
She and Mother had taken to whispering about me and the men. Perhaps they plotted ways to separate us. “Give me these few days,” I entreated them. “Everything I love will be gone soon enough.”
Why now? I wondered. What had I done that God should turn so on me? I could accept His wisdom in providing a way to peace between Cornwall and Ireland. I could accept being chosen to fulfill that duty. Why was that not sacrifice enough? Why give me not one but two men who moved my heart to song? Who adored me in ways I believed only happened in cradle tales and the great songs of history? Why double my temptation, my grief, my regret? Was this somehow punishment for my future crimes? Or was God truly this sadistic?
Whether or not I would have followed through on temptation was moot. Brangien or Mother was always present with the men and me in the courtyard. And they always came together, Drustan and Des, as though each was too afraid to come alone himself or too jealous for the other to be here with me alone.
Each day they came I reveled more in their adoration, their strength, their beauty. And each day they came brought more delights to love. Songs and stories and small kindnesses such as the flower garland Des wove for my hair and the chain bracelet Drustan fashioned for my wrist.
“Who would you choose?” Brangien pressed me, again and again, desperate for it not to be Des. Desperate for my answer to change.
“There is no choosing. Not now. Not ever. I love them both.”
It was two days before the tourney and I was repeating this to Brangien for perhaps the twentieth time when a reason came at last to me for what God had done. I clasped it close and eagerly, preferring to believe in the generosity of my Lord than in a spiteful God.
I took Brangien’s cold hands in mine. “God doesn’t care that I love them both. In His wisdom He has provided the way that I never have to choose and will never disappoint. In this way, too, my wedding to King Mark is a blessing.”
The look of pity in Brangien’s eyes was something I would only remember later. She seemed to know then what it would take even more heartache for me to realize. That sometimes God and Fate play chess. And God doesn’t always win.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
PALOMIDES
Demon dog. I had no doubt we’d been called worse by the men who settled our lands and would eventually drive us out through sheer numbers and their means of civilization they propagated upon the world. But to hear the slur from Yseult’s lips…
Not that she knew any better, of course. She called my kind legend and laughed at the quest she set for Tris and me. A diversion, nothing more. If she truly expected us to bring her anything, it would be some
“I know. To the winner goes a kiss.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
YSEULT
How I could have suffered through those dark days without Drustan and Palomides to distract is beyond me. Mother and Brangien were there at my every beck, of course, offering love and compassion when I sorrowed and a firm hand when I faltered. But so deep was my despair I feared I would drag them down and drown them too.
Drustan and Des, though—as Drustan had taken to calling Palomides who urged me to follow suit in friendship—offered solace Mother and Brangien could not.
Something had changed between them. Where before they were like two stags in rut circling one another and waiting to charge, now they were easy and free with each other. One minute rivals, still to be sure; the next, like two old friends at a tavern table.
“Don’t encourage them to love you,” Mother warned. For their good, I thought she meant. But no, too late I understood her concern had always been for me.
Brangien had gone numb, swooning over Des who ignored her nearly to the point of rudeness. Even when he did acknowledge her, he spoke to her as to a sister.
She and Mother had taken to whispering about me and the men. Perhaps they plotted ways to separate us. “Give me these few days,” I entreated them. “Everything I love will be gone soon enough.”
Why now? I wondered. What had I done that God should turn so on me? I could accept His wisdom in providing a way to peace between Cornwall and Ireland. I could accept being chosen to fulfill that duty. Why was that not sacrifice enough? Why give me not one but two men who moved my heart to song? Who adored me in ways I believed only happened in cradle tales and the great songs of history? Why double my temptation, my grief, my regret? Was this somehow punishment for my future crimes? Or was God truly this sadistic?
Whether or not I would have followed through on temptation was moot. Brangien or Mother was always present with the men and me in the courtyard. And they always came together, Drustan and Des, as though each was too afraid to come alone himself or too jealous for the other to be here with me alone.
Each day they came I reveled more in their adoration, their strength, their beauty. And each day they came brought more delights to love. Songs and stories and small kindnesses such as the flower garland Des wove for my hair and the chain bracelet Drustan fashioned for my wrist.
“Who would you choose?” Brangien pressed me, again and again, desperate for it not to be Des. Desperate for my answer to change.
“There is no choosing. Not now. Not ever. I love them both.”
It was two days before the tourney and I was repeating this to Brangien for perhaps the twentieth time when a reason came at last to me for what God had done. I clasped it close and eagerly, preferring to believe in the generosity of my Lord than in a spiteful God.
I took Brangien’s cold hands in mine. “God doesn’t care that I love them both. In His wisdom He has provided the way that I never have to choose and will never disappoint. In this way, too, my wedding to King Mark is a blessing.”
The look of pity in Brangien’s eyes was something I would only remember later. She seemed to know then what it would take even more heartache for me to realize. That sometimes God and Fate play chess. And God doesn’t always win.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
PALOMIDES
Demon dog. I had no doubt we’d been called worse by the men who settled our lands and would eventually drive us out through sheer numbers and their means of civilization they propagated upon the world. But to hear the slur from Yseult’s lips…
Not that she knew any better, of course. She called my kind legend and laughed at the quest she set for Tris and me. A diversion, nothing more. If she truly expected us to bring her anything, it would be some
Similar Books
