A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) by P. S. Power Read Free Book Online

was. Such luxuriously long locks, it made her want to cover her head, but she held up her right hand in greeting instead.
    "Timon!" She had to be careful still to make certain she didn't fall into home tongue. It was a lot different and would make people think she was from the country. She was , but sounding cultured couldn't hurt. "I wasn't expecting you just yet."
    Her brother was younger than she was, but was clearly going to break hearts as he got older. All of her brothers were sharp looking, but Tim and Todd, who was a year older than she was, just hit the right balance between being perfectly formed and rugged looking enough for most women to really want. Tor was almost too pretty that way. Like a girl. Her brother wore a nice velvet outfit in stark black, with shiny leather shoes and a silver belt that shone almost like a mirror.
    Taking just a second he looked at her, his eyes searching, but not overly friendly. Then he nodded a few times.
    "I see. So, this is your new keeper? Karen Derring, isn't it?" He smiled at her, which was charming enough, but didn't quite reach his eyes. "I was in Two Bends, visiting, when Judith came and started asking us if we intended to come and destroy any suitors you might have that weren't perfect. Teral allowed that he might take offense, if they weren't proper about it, but ma said that I should tell you that she'll pull you home if she ever hears of anything like this again."
    Then, as if it just made sense, he walked over to her and gave Tiera a small hug.
    "Don't worry. Judy said you'd already started to work on fixing it. That's good, since if you don't, I promised her that I'd drop you off in Vagus for a year with Lyn."
    Tiera scowled at him.
    "She actually went to Two Bends? I'm... mortified. I can't believe that." Except that her brother wouldn't have known to show up if it hadn't happened, would he? It wasn't a trick, things were just that bad.
    Timon changed the subject then, looking at Karen closely. It wasn't a happy thing either, like he didn't really trust her for some reason. She was practically family though, so he must have known something. She needed to get him aside and ask, if she ever got the chance. There was a glance and a half nod directed toward Tiera, then gave a small head shake.
    "Anyway, we have dinner tonight in the Capital, with Terlee and Ali. I came to get you both. You can bring Karen as your date. It will mess up the seating arrangements, but that can't be helped." There was no question that she'd be going in his voice at all.
    Karen didn't get a choice either it seemed, which got her to make a bit of a face at him.
    "Oh? I wasn't aware that I was on tap for you to whisk away like this. Normally I get flowers first, before someone tries to start giving me orders like that."
    That got a small chuckle from Timon, even though Karen was still frowning.
    "I know . All kinds of heavy handed, but you'll want in on this, I think. It's with the Count and Countess Thomson and a few others. We should probably get Dean Hardgrove and Sir Kolbrin in on it too, if we can. If that's the case I need to call on Terlee so she can have some extra places set and get the food ready. Nine o'clock, of course, since it's in the Capital. You have a few hours to get ready. Petra, could you help Tiera? I'll go and see to the Dean and Kolbrin. Miss Derring, would you aid me in that?" There was a strange thing there that Tiera almost didn't pick up on. Tim was... setting her up for something. She could feel it, but she didn't know why.
     Hopefully it wasn't a beating, though she didn't doubt that Petra was capable of getting it done, the woman looked hard and was probably a fighter of some kind. She was, now that Tiera thought about it, probably also the Petra that did all the popular clothing designs. If that was the case it was pretty strange that the woman was hanging out with her little brother. Maybe she had marriage designs on him too? As long as she planned to wait, that