Queen's Heart: An Arthurian Paranormal Romance (Arthurian Hearts Book 2) by Phoenix Sullivan Read Free Book Online Page A

caught scent of her interest long before now. While I was in a cursing mood, I damned being forced to live by man’s dull senses. Still, I was not bound by his archaic sensibilities. Fae might mate for life, but we remain free to find pleasure as we will. Acts of the flesh are not acts of the heart, and fae do not confuse the two.
    Yseult’s handmaid had a pretty enough face, with high cheekbones and lips that trembled as my gaze swept over her, settling briefly on her features one by one. Her hair was red, though a darker shade than mine, her skin as fair as Yseult’s. I had never paid much attention to clothes, preferring as fae did the natural state. But the emerald gown she wore flattered her body, hiding and outlining her attributes in a way that teased the eye while pricking the flesh.
    My heart, devastated, thudded dully in my chest. There was no stir of song in the presence of this handmaid though any other night I was confident she could stir me in other ways.
    “Your name, should I desire to call you?”
    “Brangien, my Lord.”
    I knew that flicker of fire that kindled in her eyes well. Hope. Hope for a thing that could not be. Too late I understood what she truly desired. Though I smiled a soft dismissal her way, I would not be calling for her. With regret, I watched the sway of her hips as she returned to her seat at the servants table.
    My hair prickled as I realized the harper-who-was-not-a-harper was watching our exchange with an intensity well beyond the pale of simple curiosity.
    “What, have you a claim on every woman who solicits my attentions?” I struggled to keep my voice conversation-low, to not explode in rage against this man into whose care I had been charged.
    “My care is for everything that affects the Lady Yseult.”
    My eyes narrowed. “Are you sworn to her then?”
    “I am…” He faltered, though it was clear he would have simply ended it there if circumstances were different. He seemed to sit between two worlds. At feasts, harpers were often given places of honor among the nobles who expected them to play for the privilege. But Drustan spoke and acted as though such privilege was his always. Pride vaulted his tone, elevating his words from the base. To me, perhaps because I was more stranger to this House than even they could guess, it seemed Drustan had more freedoms and control than was any simple harper’s wont.
    “You are—” A fool is how I meant to end that, but King Anguish once again rapped his trencher for attention.
    Still looking somewhat abashed by the sudden and unexpected departure of his wife and daughter, Anguish nevertheless seemed determined not to let their absence ruin the celebration nor their desolation sway his course. ”The Lady Yseult will leave for Cornwall directly after the tourney. She will require escort, and assuredly I would trust my daughter’s care only to the most noble champion of this House. Therefore, the one among you who acquits himself best at the tournament shall win the privilege of seeing her safely to Tintagel.”
    Mead enough had been consumed by then that the knights in the hall seemed to have forgotten the fate of the last Irishman to be sent to Tintagel. Cups and trenchers clattered when the knights began pounding tables in appreciation of this bonus honor to be given to the best. I lifted my own cup toward the king with the rest, confident he bore no expectation yet of entrusting his precious daughter to a stranger knight with unmarked arms.
    Beside me, wine sloshed over Drustan’s hand as he likewise thrust his cup toward the king.
    “For Yseult!” He and I breathed her name in unison.
    Somewhere in her cavern by the sea, Fate nodded her approval.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

TRISTAN
    For the next days leading up to the tourney, Yseult kept to her chamber. I waited in vain for her to emerge, although I saw her handmaid from time to time shuttling food and trenchers to and from the kitchens.
    On one of her early trips, I caught her out