Read Online The Twelve Kingdoms by Jeffe Kennedy - Free Book Online Page B

reflecting us away as if from a mirror. I’d tried to explain this to Uorsin once before, but he’d flown into such a rage that I knew better than to say it again. I’d hoped he’d calm over the ensuing months.
    Instead he’d only gotten worse. Danu give me strength to know what to do.
    â€œWe did not go far enough,” I agreed, aching with the failure of that, too.
    â€œAnd then your sister sent for you and you threw all else aside to go to her.”
    How to tread this path? “I knew you placed a high value on securing her child, should it be born a boy. I sought to serve you in that, Father.”
    The sound of the flagon hitting the wall clanged like a broken bell against my nerves.
    â€œBut. You. Failed.” The King bit down on each word. Each as bad as the physical blow.
    â€œYes, my King.” I thought a tear escaped me, but it was blood, I realized, leaking from my forehead where the Heir’s Circlet had cut in. I put up a hand to wipe it away.
    â€œGive me that.”
    Pulling off the circlet, with a sense of the inevitability, I placed the thin gold band in his palm and for a long and dreadful moment faced him, forcing myself to hold steady.
    â€œAllow me to correct my error, my King. I’ll go and find them, bring them here. Or die trying.”
    â€œYou shall not wiggle free so easily, escaping the consequences of thwarting me as your mother did. You need not retrieve my grandson, because Amelia will bring him here—if she truly lives and your tale is true. She, at least, dotes on her old father and will want to see me happy. You denied me one heir. I won’t stand by and let you do it again.”
    His words hung between us, the scorching accusation that I deprived him of the happiness he sought. He left it open, waiting for me to offer what I knew he most wanted.
    I couldn’t. I never would again.
    â€œYou will remain inside these walls. See that your behavior is beyond reproach. Formal court in the morning.”

6
    I took the shortcut back to my rooms, the night-blooming flowers filling the air with sweet scent, as if Ordnung had not become my prison. At least the corridors were empty, with none to witness my humiliation. In my rooms, I removed the thrice-damned rubies and put them carefully away. The gown took some doing, but I struggled out of it. Further proof that Lady Mailloux made a terrible lady’s maid, as she should have waited up for me.
    Thank Danu she hadn’t.
    Her absence gave me time to clean the blood from my face and gown, though the deep color barely showed it. Something to remember.
    Knowing I’d never sleep, I changed into a set of soft leathers and strapped on my sword. The familiar weight grounded me, settled some of the roiling energy that came of being stymied at every turn. Funny that I’d never felt truly trapped until this moment. All along I’d thought the sense of being surrounded would ease off, that we’d ride out soon. Now I needed to move, to burn off this near-desperate urge to escape. I headed for the courtyard off the arcade. No one would go that way and I could work off some of this emotion until I felt centered enough to form a plan.
    Danu’s priestesses kept few temples, and those were mainly on the mountain peaks. Unlike Glorianna—or Moranu, I supposed, though I didn’t know—Danu had few prescribed prayers or rituals. The sword forms and her other martial exercises were the core of her teachings. Work the body to temper the spirit. With Glorianna, a worshiper could mouth the words and be smiled upon. Danu required sweat and blood.
    Though my body protested, I started the Midnight form. My knees groaned from riding since before dawn, the earlier workout, and then sitting through the banquet. If I exhausted myself enough, I might be able to stop thinking, perhaps even sleep a few hours.
    Defend, parry, attack, retreat, regroup.
    The situation with my father was a