Half-Orcs: Book 06 - The Prison of Angels by David Dalglish Read Free Book Online Page B

the petitioners home. You’re the steward. They will wait for you. Even coming into your presence is a gift they have no right to demand.”
    “I know,” he said. “But I should be able to handle this. I’m sitting on a stuffed chair, half-drunk, making arbitrary decisions. This isn’t hard. I can do it.”
    “You’re wrong, Harruq,” Susan said, her voice firm. “It is hard. And the more you convince yourself otherwise the more frustrated you’ll become. You didn’t grow up with this, didn’t train for this. You’re more at home with a sword than a scepter.”
    “There were several I did want to hit with a sword,” he admitted. “Safe assumption that’s not an acceptable diplomatic response?”
    Susan laughed.
    “When it is, I will let you know,” she promised.
    A knocking came from the other side of the door. Susan cracked it back open and leaned out. Harruq heard muffled talking, then saw the queen’s shoulders visibly sink.
    “Harruq,” she said, pulling back inside. “There’s one more guest that refuses to leave.”
    His left eyebrow lifted.
    “Hit him with a sword?”
    Susan’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.
    “It’s my brother,” she said.
    Harruq held back his groan.
    “All right,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. “I guess we can’t be rude. Aurry?”
    “I’ll be fine,” Aurelia said, standing as well. “But I’m not staying cooped up in here. Aubby, Greg, let’s go to the gardens.”
    With a quick motion of her hands she ripped open a swirling blue portal, kissed Harruq on the cheek, and then pushed the children through. After she stepped inside the portal vanished, leaving Harruq and Susan alone.
    “Lead on,” he said, and the queen did. Back into the throne room they went, Harruq plopping into a seat he had already grown to hate. The long hall before the throne was empty but for a single man, who entered through the double doors without waiting for approval. Harruq reminded himself to yell at the guards.
    “Welcome,” Harruq said, his voice anything but.
    “Yes, welcome,” Susan said, having waited to speak as a sign of respect. She opened her arms and smiled.
    Kevin Maryll accepted the embrace, then kissed his sister on the cheek. He had the same soft face as his sister, but his eyes were hard. His hair was dark, cut short, as was his beard.
    “My dear Susan,” he said, “my sympathies for what you must yet again endure.”
    “The castle is not so empty that I will suffer,” she said, then stepped back so she might gesture to Harruq. “Besides, I have a steward to train, and he does much to keep me entertained.”
    Harruq opened his mouth, then closed it. For once, he really didn’t know what to say.
    “Ah yes, the Godslayer,” Kevin said. He walked to the foot of the throne and then bowed to one knee. “Consider me honored to be in your presence.”
    Harruq bit his tongue. He’d met Kevin several times, and each meeting had been painful, filled with awkward moments due to Kevin’s inability to discuss anything other than what was most pressing to him. And since the Gods’ War, that had been one thing and one thing only.
    “I hear the city has taken a restless turn,” said Susan, trying to draw his attention back to her. “I pray your travel here was uneventful.”
    “Oh, far from,” Kevin said, his eyes never leaving Harruq’s. “But for my safety, I trust my sword, not prayers. Men surrounded me from the moment I stepped into these streets. Everywhere I went I heard their shouts. Unrest, fury, distrust and betrayal all about me as I made my way to the castle.”
    “What did they want?” Harruq asked.
    Kevin gave him a look, a combination of condescension and inflated self-worth that nearly ignited his temper.
    “Why, for me to continue talking, of course,” Kevin said. “For at last I was telling them the truth they’ve been aching to hear.”
    And that was it, of course. Harruq tried, and failed, to hide his annoyance. Of all the