Read Online The Singer's Crown by Elaine Isaak - Free Book Online

even challenge Montgomery to a duel and avenge them all for every beating. His daydream broke against his own reflection: a delicate boy of eighteen, his face framed by the curls that were the envy of many a lady, the face of one abandoned time and again. And if the tunic were slipped away, they would all see the truth, the horrible absence that made him everything he was. He pulled on his hose with small, quick gestures, and did not look that at the mirror again.
    Hauling the leather trunk behind him, Kattanan crossed back into the sitting room. Most of the servants had gone, and those that remained did not bid him farewell. He left the baron’s place behind him, bearing his own trunk into yet another new life. A mental count brought the tally to fourteen new places in the six years since Jordan had broken his vow and left him. He could no longer count the number of songs he had learned, the number of languages he knew just enough to get by. The thought made him weary beyond his years. Where would he land when this princess cast him aside? But the uproar in the princess’s rooms swept away his melancholy.
    â€œYou’re hurting! I won’t have you near me!” The princess shouted, brandishing a hairbrush as she chased a maid out the door. She stopped short when she saw Kattanan staring at her—anger brought out the green of her eyes. He quickly recalled himself, and bowed. “Oh, good,” said Melisande. “Maybe you can do a decent job with my hair.”
    One of the maids rolled her eyes with a good-natured shrug. “If he can serve you as you like, let him try, Highness.” As she passed Kattanan, she whispered, “Good luck!”
    The singer hauled his trunk to the little room beside the chimney and emerged again. “Would you like me to try, Your Highness?”
    â€œPlease.” She pushed the brush into his hand and dropped into her seat. “They have me wrapped in this gown, and then want to tie my hair in knots.”
    He paused in his brushing, trying to read the reason for the mood. “In some places, Highness, maids can be killed for having angered their ladies.”
    â€œOh, I shouldn’t go that far.” She smiled slightly. “Is that true?”
    â€œI stayed there only a little while,” Kattanan responded, “else I should probably have struck a wrong note as well, Your Highness.”
    â€œI don’t believe it of you. Have you traveled many places then?”
    â€œI have lived in twenty-three, and performed in many more.” He paused to work out a tangle.
    â€œWhere were you born, then? I don’t hear an accent when you speak.”
    â€œNot far from here. Over the mountains to the east.”
    â€œLochalyn? Then you must know about the revolution! My father helped to put the proper king on the throne, about fourteen years ago, I guess. Did you know that the queen had taken a lover?” She spoke with delight at the scandal of it all. “She had three sons by this other man while the king was away, then denied it when he had died. She was so ashamed in the end that she went mad and killed them all.”
    Chilled, Kattanan fumbled the brush.
    â€œI guess you didn’t know that.” She watched with bright, gentle eyes. “You must have been quite young when you left there.”
    â€œEight, I think, when we left the monastery.” He was looking at his hands, and had not resumed brushing.
    â€œWe?” she prompted.
    â€œI had…” Kattanan’s voice trembled, and he started over. “I had a tutor who traveled with me, but he left.”
    â€œWhy did he do that? I should think he would stay with you just to visit all those places, even if you didn’t need him any longer.”
    â€œI don’t know, Highness.” His voice bit so that she glanced at him again.
    Her brow furrowed, then she blinked and turned away. “I’m sorry.”
    â€œForgive me,” he