Accidental Sorcerer by K. E. Mills Read Free Book Online Page B

great show of harrumphing and pretending hed got the answer he wanted. Then he bowed, creakily.
    'Not at this moment, Your Highness. Doubtless this is but a temporary state of affairs. I'm sure His Majesty will soon come to regret this decision. We will return to our estates now and await our recall. Good day'
    Watching the offended Council members retreat, she almost felt sorry for them. All those years running the show behind the scenes while her father the cabbage king played figurehead ... and now here was Lional. At nearly thirty he was less than half Lord Billingsley's age, and to the Council's mind scarcely old enough to shave unassisted. Throwing his weight around. Inconveniently insisting that kings had more important things to do than poison aphids and peruse seed catalogues.
    'Melissande!' a deceptively sweet voice called from within the audience chamber.'I'm
waitingV
    She sighed and looked to the rigidly non-commital chamber attendants. The one on the right banged his ceremonial pikestaff on the floor and said, unnecessarily, 'His Majesty will see you now, Your Highness.'
    'Apparently. Don't bother announcing me, Willis.' She poked a couple of escaping hairpins back into her slapdash bun, squared her shoulders and marched into the enormous, echoing audience chamber.
    Lional was down off his throne, standing instead by the large leadlight windows in the grandiose room's far wall. Shafting sunlight turned his wavy hair to burnished gold and sparkled the rubies and emeralds in his crown. Long and lean, he wore his dark green silks like a second skin. His thickly lashed blue eyes were luminous, his wide cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass. His skin was lightly golden, and blooming fresh like a child's. Every inch of him shrieked athletic elegance and grace. He looked like a living legend.
    It was hard to believe they were related.
    A fat orange cat wove complicated patterns around his booted ankles. Tavistock. She didn't like Lional's pet, but the fact that he loved it without reservation gave her heart when his casual inconsiderations drove her to swearing and sometimes to tears.
    It was a long walk up the thin strip of crimson carpet to reach him, and he didn't acknowledge her presence until she came to a stop a few feet from him. Tavistock eyed her with a slitted green gaze, smirking. Dratted animal.
    Ignoring it, she sniffed. 'Good morning. What was all that business with the Council? Surely you haven't -'
    He raised a finger and both eyebrows. 'Ah ah ah! What are we forgetting, Melissande?'
    She frowned. 'I don't know.'
    The finger wagged, admonishing. 'I think you do.'
    'No, I really don't.'
    He sighed. 'You're supposed to curtsey. I
am
the king, though sometimes I think the fact escapes you.'
    She looked around the otherwise deserted chamber. 'Lional, we're the only ones in here.' 'Nevertheless ...'
    'Oh, please! I'm wearing trousers!'
    His glance was disapproving. 'Put on a dress, then. You should wear a dress anyway. One with lace. And flounces. It's more princessly.'
    'You know perfectly well I don't wear dresses,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'They make me look like a badly sewn-up sack of wheat. Lional, have you really dismissed the Council?'
    He turned away from the window and returned to his throne on its crimson-carpeted dais.Tavistock leapt into his lap with a grunt, turned around twice and settled on his knees. Claws like tiny scimitars paddled green silk, pulling threads. Lional tickled under the cat's chin. 'You don't approve?'
    No, she didn't, but wasn't stupid enough to say so.'I don't understand. I know Lord Billingsley and his cronies are tedious, but they -'
    'Refuse to accept reality. The old regime is dead and buried, just like Father. / am king now.
I
make the decisions. Not them.'
    'Lional ...' She stepped closer. 'Be fair. They're old men, set in their ways, and you've been king for less than a year. I'm sure you'll get used to them once -'
    'It's not for me to get used to them!' snapped