The Truth-Teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn Read Free Book Online Page B

Better pick a man you can be sure loves you than a man who will treat you badly, even if he does come dripping in gold and owning half the shipping rights to the kingdom.”
    â€œBut what about Roelynn?” Adele said gently, not at all interested in these old tales but more diplomatic than I would have been. “And the prince.”
    Melinda made a sound that, in a less-refined woman, would have passed as a snort. “The prince. Well, he failed to show up for the tea party that had been arranged first. Lirabel sent the servants up to his room to find him, but he was nowhere in sight. Naturally, quite a hue and cry ensued—because, well, he’s the prince. And even though he’s got to be sixteen years old by now, I suppose Lirabel always fears that someone could kidnap him or do him some kind of harm.”
    â€œAnd was he kidnapped?” my mother breathed.
    I was fairly certain that, if that had been the case, the whole kingdom would be aware of the event by now. So I was not surprised when Melinda shook her head. “No. If you please, he and his cousin had taken it into their heads to go off to the boat races along the southern shore, and they’d left that morning. He’d written his mother a note—he just had managed to make sure it didn’t get delivered to her until he’d been gone for half the day.”
    â€œHis cousin,” my mother said. “Now who exactly would that be?”
    â€œTobin is the son of the king’s brother,” Melinda said. “Charming as they come, but completely feckless. Darian never gets into trouble that Tobin’s not right by his side, cheering him on. I would think Lirabel would have him barred from the palace, but she loves him too much, and she’s the type who holds tight to such family as she has.”
    â€œSo Tobin and Darian went off to these boat races,” Adele prompted. “Wasn’t the queen furious?”
    Melinda grinned. “Well, she was, but it was all her fault to a certain degree. She had been very casual about how she was going to introduce Roelynn—she didn’t want Darian to suspect that she was bringing in a prospective bride—so she hadn’t really told him that special company was on the way and he had to be present. And apparently he scoots off like this all the time on some lark or another. She could hardly think he’d done it on purpose to spite her.”
    â€œI’ll bet Karro was mad, though,” I said.
    Melinda looked unconvinced. “Not as much as you might have expected,” she said. “He was really more focused on Lirabel and making sure she had a good impression of Roelynn. Because if the queen doesn’t like the match, you know, it has no hope of going forward.”
    â€œThat seems unfair,” I remarked. “If the queen herself got to marry for love.”
    Melinda smiled a little grimly. “It’s only fair when it’s happening to you ,” she said.
    â€œSo did she?” my mother asked. “Did the queen approve of Roelynn?”
    â€œOh, yes,” Melinda said. “Roelynn was on her best behavior.”
    â€œWhich, you know,” I said, “wasn’t something we could really count on.”
    Melinda laughed. “Indeed, no! But she was having the most wonderful time. It’s not every day a fourteen-year-old gets to go to the royal palace and have tea with the queen and a dozen other nobles, and have everyone tell her how beautiful she is, and have the queen sit right beside her and talk to her like an important lady. You couldn’t blame her if she preened a little. She behaved very prettily, and she looked quite lovely, too, and I could see the queen was quite taken with her. And the next night, at the ball—”
    â€œWas the prince there that night?” I asked.
    â€œNo! Still off at the races! Anyway, at the ball, Roelynn was besieged with suitors. She was allowed to dance