The Trojan Princess by JJ Hilton Read Free Book Online Page A

and fresh,
Andromache allowed them a smile that beguiled her sense of worry.
     
    *
* *
     
               
King Priam was known for many things – his great many children, mostly
illegitimate, for one, and his knowledge and love for his people – but one
trait that had never been used to describe the king was stupid.
               
He was an astute man – for didn’t all kings need to be? – and the news that
Cilician Thebes had been sacked, the king slaughtered and its people either
dead or spread to other lands, had left him in a dilemma.
               
Now he was told that Princess Andromache had arrived in the city, seeking
refuge and an audience with him. He had no doubt what she really sought. With
her position in society so uncertain now, Priam did not doubt that the young
woman was seeking assurances that her betrothal to Hector was safe. What would
he tell her? He had so many things to consider, he thought, pacing the rooms of
the council chambers. He had not summoned the council to him - not yet - though
he thought that he must have to if he were to make a decision over such
matters. Not that he needed their permission, but it did not serve anyone well
to disregard such a powerful group of men. Only Diephobus, the second son in
the line of accession to the throne, was with him.
               
“You doubt the benefits of such a marriage for our beloved Heir Apparent?”
Diephobus asked, reading the trail of his father’s thoughts as he had grown
accustomed to doing, for his father was not one for speaking his mind, even in
such private circumstances.        “It is true
that so many of the advantages that made the princess such a good choice are no
longer so,” Priam said, shaking his head, glad to be able to speak openly
without fear of them being overheard. “Her father is dead, her city destroyed
by all accounts, and her mother is said to be bedridden with fever. How can
such a princess be suitable to marry our Hector?”
               
“Indeed, it is true,” Diephobus sighed, though his eyes showed no sign of
displeasure. “A princess with no kingdom is, truly, no princess at all,
father.”
               
“True, true,” Priam murmured. “You think we should call a halt to such a
match?”
               
“If it pleases my king, then of course,” Diephobus nodded. His eyes seemed to
gleam at the thought of causing such distress to others, but his father did not
notice, as he had never done.      
               
The doors to the council chamber flew open and both men jumped, startled, for
nobody ever entered the chamber without consent, the two guards standing either
side of the entrance outside saw to that. Hector walked towards them, his face
a mask of fury. The guards closed the doors hastily behind him, and neither
Priam nor Diephobus spoke as the Heir Apparent, Prince of Troy, approached.
               
“You dare to discuss matters of my marriage without my presence?” Hector
demanded. He did not shout, but he did not need to; his voice carried across
the room, loud and clear, and his years of training to lead an army had given
him a commanding voice that made even his father hesitate. He reached them and
stood, shoulders squared, defiant in the face of the two men. “Diephobus.
Brother. Why does it not surprise me that you be here in times of trouble?” he
demanded of him. Diephobus smiled sourly and bowed his head in deferment to his
older brother.
               
“We did not seek to exclude you from discussions,” Priam said, and Hector bowed
his head to him, for even in his anger he knew that he could not dismiss
etiquette. “Yet you have grown fond of the girl, and we needed to be
level-headed in such matters that –”
               
“I will not be moved in the matter,” Hector insisted, “Princess Andromache is
my betrothed, I will accept no