Read Online The Dragon Prince by Mary Gillgannon - Free Book Online Page B

“I’m
certain he got busy with other things or he would have come back
with a torch.”
    “Not likely,” Rhun grumbled as he dug in one
of the saddle packs lying near the cart. “He’s probably off
somewhere playing knucklebones and drinking wine right now.” He
straightened suddenly and turned toward her. “I wanted to come and
tell you—our plans have changed. Instead of setting out for my
homeland, tomorrow we will travel to a place called Londinium.”
    She could sense the tension in his body. “Is
something wrong?” she asked. “Is there going to be a battle
there?”
    “Nay. Arthur and the rest of the army aren’t
going. Only you and I and my cursed brother. And a small escort, of
course. It’s not safe to travel anywhere in Britain these days
without a troop of fighting men.”
    Rhun and Bridei had obviously been arguing
again. She hoped their conflict had nothing to do with her. She
didn’t want to be responsible for coming between Rhun and his close
kin. The ties of family were too precious to forsake for any
reason—certainly not for a woman who was by rights their enemy.
    “I have heard of Londinium,” she said. “My
father used to go there to buy trading goods. Years ago it was.” As
always, she knew a pang of grief at the thought of her family and
her lost childhood. “Is that why we are going there? To purchase
trading goods?”
    Rhun didn’t answer immediately. Then he
said, “Aye, that is it. There are some things I would like to buy
to take back to Gwynedd to my father and stepmother.”
    She had thought he would say they were
buying supplies for Arthur’s army. It surprised her to think they
would make such a journey simply to purchase gifts for his family.
“Are you fond of your stepmother?” she asked.
    Rhun nodded. “She is a gentle, loving soul,
and has always treated me like I was her own. My own mother died
when I was not yet a man, so I appreciated her kindness. Besides,
she makes my father happy, and he has endured so much tragedy and
suffering in his life he deserves to know some peace in his later
years.”
    The way he spoke of his family brought tears
to Eastra’s eyes. She thought of all she had lost, and the ache
that filled her was almost unbearable.
    “There is one thing,” Rhun said, breaking
into her gloom. “While we are in Londinium, we must give some
explanation for why a Saxon woman is traveling with us. Bridei has
come up with an idea, but I don’t think you will agree to it. If
his plan distresses you, rest assured I will not insist on it, but
will find some other means to explain things.”
    “What is his plan?”
    Rhun took a deep breath. “He wants me to say
that you are my leman.”
    His leman. With any other man, the idea
would distress her, but with this one—wasn’t this what she truly
wanted, to have Rhun love her and take her maidenhead? “I have no
objection,” she answered.
    “You don’t? But... perhaps you don’t
understand. Men will think that I... that we... that we share a
bed, that we are intimate.”
    “I know what it means,” she said. “Is it
considered so shameful among your people for a man and a woman who
are not married to lie together?”
    “Nay, I suppose not. My own mother was my
father’s leman, so I can hardly condemn it. But the Christian
priests say it devalues the woman, that it’s a barbaric,
dishonorable practice.”
    She looked intently into his deep-set eyes.
“It’s a plausible tale, is it not? And if you and I know the truth,
what does it matter what the people of Londinium think?”
    He nodded, but she could see he was still
uncomfortable with the idea. She wondered at his unease. Was he
embarrassed by the thought that people would believe he had a Saxon
lover? Or did the fact she had been a slave distress him? She
thought back to Bridei’s playful words. He had implied Rhun desired
her. Could she believe Rhun’s brother?
    Rhun cleared his throat. He found he was
staring at her, something he’d