One Thousand Nights by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online

earlier. But delaying would only make things worse, so I drew in a breath and said, “We have had a visit from several ambassadors from Keshiaar.”
    One dark eyebrow lifted. “Indeed? It is surely not the time of year for that.”
    “No, it is not,” I agreed, thinking of the snow that had begun to fall outside. “But they felt their mission was urgent enough to risk a sea passage at this season.”
    “And was it?” He did drink this time, his blue eyes, so striking against his dark hair and tanned skin, watching me carefully.
    “Yes, I believe it was.” I turned the goblet in my hands, feeling the smooth silver against my palms, the coolness of the liquid within. Perhaps I should have sent for mulled wine, given the snowy day outside, but I had not known for sure how long it would have to sit before Thani came to me. “They came here to say that the Hierarch’s consort has passed away, and that he wishes my hand in marriage.”
    A deep, terrible silence, one in which those blue eyes did not blink, but only remained fixed on my face. Finally he replied, “And of course they were told that you were already promised to someone else.”
    “Yes, they were.”
    “Well, how is that not the end of the matter?” He continued to stare at me, then said, “What is it you are not telling me, Lyarris?”
    “I — ” Suddenly my mouth was dry, dry as Keshiaar’s fabled deserts, and I lifted my goblet and took a swallow of wine. “Thani, my brother did tell them I was not — not free to accept their offer. And I told the senior ambassador, Sel-Trelazar, the same thing.”
    “But?” Thani prodded, his expression telling me he did not believe that to be the end of the matter.
    “But — but I have thought on it, thought on it at great length.”
    “And so you have decided to agree to their proposal,” he said heavily. His knuckles whitened as his fingers clenched on the goblet he held. I could see the thin silver buckle under their pressure.
    “Y - yes,” I faltered.
    “I see.” The words were spoken quietly, but I could hear the anger running beneath them, like the faint, dangerous spark that sets off a forest fire. “You realized that to be the wife of a duke was nothing, when you could be the consort of the Hierarch of Keshiaar, queen of one of the world’s greatest realms!”
    “No, that is not why,” I said at once. I could bear his anger, but I could not bear to have him think me greedy and grasping, desiring only to be raised to such an exalted height, high above all other women.
    “Pray tell me why, then,” he retorted, before lifting his goblet and finishing the rest of its contents in a single swallow. “For unless the Hierarch himself came here to make his suit, and you looked into his eyes and fell madly in love, I confess I cannot understand how you could ignore everything that has passed between us to accept this proposition!”
    Oh, how could I explain this to him, when I could barely explain it to myself? “Thani, I — ”
    “Sorthannic,” he corrected me. “For only those who care about me may use that nickname.”
    Ice went through me then, despite the heat from the fire only a few feet away. “Very well. My lord, I studied my heart. I care for you. I do. I think perhaps we could have made a good marriage, despite our differences in temperament. But after everything, I have come to realize I cannot love you the way you deserve to be loved. And that is not fair to you. Not fair at all.”
    Again a terrible silence fell. He stood there, staring at me as if I were a stranger, as if one of those strange, fey creatures of legend had invaded my body, turning my heart cold as stone. Finally, “And yet you think you can love this Hierarch, a man you have never seen, never met?”
    “Such matches are not made for love,” I said wearily. “This is something I have been raised knowing. I was taught to do my duty. When I met you, I thought — I thought perhaps my fate might be different.