One Thousand Nights by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online Page B

recall seeing Torric positively flummoxed. In fact, I thought perhaps this might be the only one. He stood there in the center of the chamber, jaw working as if he meant to say something but could not quite decide what. At last he closed his mouth, crossed over to me, and poured himself his own goblet of water. “Damn tepid stuff,” he said. “I should’ve had the footmen bring up a bottle. But Ashara heard from one of her ladies-in-waiting that her younger sister’s new doctor insists that women with child should not drink anything stronger than cider, and so Ashara has said we should not have wine in our chambers.” He lifted the circlet he wore, ran a hand through his hair, and then replaced the finely worked band of gold, a gesture I had seen him make often enough when he was trying to work through something in his mind.
    “It is good that she is taking such care,” I said, glad of a reason to talk about anything but what had just passed between Thani and myself.
    “Yes, of course.” Then Torric shook his head. “But enough of that. May I ask whence has come this remarkable shift in your opinion of a marriage with the Hierarch?”
    “You may ask,” I told him, attempting to keep my tone light, as if I were teasing.
    He was my brother and I loved him, and we were far closer than many siblings, as we’d only had one another as a bulwark against our mother’s harsh tongue, but there were some things I could not imagine myself saying to him. Especially not what I had seen in my heart when I looked deep within it the night before, and realized that Sorthannic Sedassa could not make me truly happy. Not that I expected such a thing of the Hierarch, either. In that case, though, it would be a match made for politics, and no one truly expects love to come from such a union.
    And of course I could never confess to Torric that, somewhere deep inside my soul, I hoped perhaps my case might be different.
    Now, though, his face darkened, and he said, “I will not lie and say I am not happy to hear this, for of course it is great news, much more than I could have ever hoped for. But I also do not want to think of you sacrificing yourself for this, throwing away something you insisted you wanted. Just two days ago you stood in this very room and claimed you could never marry the Hierarch. So I think you may forgive me for wondering whence has come this sea change.”
    I lifted my goblet and drank deeply of the water therein, then poured myself some more. “Then let us say I thought the matter over with some care, and realized perhaps Lord Sorthannic and I would not suit quite as well as I had first thought.”
    Torric let out a sigh at that reply. His dark eyes scanned my face, and at last he gave a reluctant nod. “And somehow I fear that is all I will hear from you on the matter, unless Ashara winkles it out of you.”
    Despite everything, I could not help but smile, as she had said almost those same words just a few days earlier about her husband. “Perhaps. For you know, Torric, there are some things that women only wish to confide in one another. Is it not enough that I have agreed to the marriage?”
    “It would be…if I were certain you were not sacrificing your happiness to do so. I don’t want you to feel as if you were forced to this conclusion.”
    “I most certainly was not,” I said stoutly. “I came to it on my own, and therefore you should accept my decision and question me no further.”
    He fell silent then, studying me as if he sought to discover the truth in my face. At last he said, “Then have I your leave to summon the Keshiaari ambassadors and tell them the news?”
    “You do. I am sure they will be pleased.”
    “That is an understatement.” Unlike those ambassadors, my brother did not look pleased at all. His brow was still puckered, as if he were worrying at the problem in his mind, trying to discover exactly what it was that had compelled me to accept the Hierarch’s suit.
    “Do not