Rosabella hopped down from her seat and skipped over to us. Her curtsy was both perfect and adorable and I wanted to steal her away until she could teach me to carry that much grace and poise.
When she lifted herself once more I couldn’t help but smile at her round face and the blonde ringlets framing it. “We are honored to host you this evening, Your Highness.”
I struggled through a curtsy and Oliver had the insight to bend forward in a stilted bow.
“We are honored to be hosted, Your Majesty.” I winked at her as I stood.
She leaned forward and cupped her hand over her mouth. In a poor attempt at a whisper she said, “I’m not a Majesty yet.”
I dropped my voice as well. “Well, I’m not much of a Highness. But I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Her blinding smile made my heart swell. And when she swept her hand toward the table, I decided I needed to keep her. She was just too precious.
“I’m Rosabella,” she declared proudly. “Mama said I could be the one to show you to your places. It’s not proper, you know. But Mama said that you’re not actually a guest.”
“Oh,” I laughed. “Thank you.”
“So you’re not a guest?” Rosabella pressed. “Does that mean you’ve come to live here?”
“Rosabella!” Anatal scolded. “I said you could show them to their seats, not interrogate them.”
The six-year-old’s cheeks turned red and she looked down at her shoes. “Sorry.”
I laughed. It could not be helped. “Don’t be. I’m not offended. But to answer your question, I think your Mama merely meant that I’m more like a friend than a distinguished visitor.”
“Don’t let her fool you, Rosie,” Taelon announced as he swept in behind me. His hand landed on the small of my back and the light touch burned all the way to my toes. “This is the most famous guest you’ll ever meet. She’s not just any princess.” He leaned in and with a conspiratorial wink whispered, “She’s the Lost Princess.”
I would have laughed at Rosabella’s gasp of surprise, but I was too embarrassed to do anything but want to die. Taelon must have noticed, but it didn’t seem he cared.
Instead, he picked up my arm and looped it through his elbow. Then with his deep baritone he said, “Lost Princess, your chair awaits.” After I’d taken my seat, Taelon introduced Oliver.
“Father, Mother, this is Oliver, Tessana’s bodyguard.”
Oliver nearly choked on his tongue. “Hardly,” he laughed. “More like her traveling entertainment.”
I smiled at him. “Oliver is an apprentice to the Order of Silence. He has yet to take his vows and it is my theory that until he does, he plans to use as many words as possible.”
Oliver wrinkled his nose at me and Hugo howled. “I see you have not wanted for friendship, Tessana. That is good.”
I nodded. “Oliver was my savior many times. As it turns out I do not fare well when forbidden to speak.”
Taelon, who was seated across from me, laughed. “I remember that well.”
“You’re truly her, then?” one of the boys asked. “The Lost Princess?”
“Leo,” Anatal scolded. She turned to me. “I apologize, Tessana. It appears that my children have no manners. I must speak with their governess.”
“We have no governess, Mother,” the other son, Dorian, reminded her. “You are to fault for our lack of propriety.”
Anatal smiled. “Oh, that’s right.”
Hugo chuckled and looked adoringly at his wife. “Ah,” he murmured. “Now I know who to blame them on.”
“Blame them on?” She gasped. “Why, my king, whatever do you mean?”
Hugo continued to smile, “There’s the one that can’t stop talking.” He gave a pointed look at Rosabella. “And the two in the middle, forever causing mischief with their fencing instructor. And that one,” his gaze swung to his oldest son.
“What is wrong with that one?” Anatal asked, trying to hide her smile.
“He’s leading a rebellion against his own kingdom. The very one he’s going to rule.”
Taelon leaned back and grinned. “I have yet to wage war against your troops, Father. However, should you fail to meet my list of demands…”
“Bah!” Hugo guffawed. “You’ve access to the treasury. Take whatever you need.”
I spoke before I thought better of it, “You’re serious? You know he’s leading a rebellion and you’re fine with it?”
Hugo’s warm gaze landed on me. “He’d like you to believe it’s a rebellion. And I suppose it is of sorts. But he’s not rebelling against the Nine. More like the darkness infecting our realm.” His voice was filled with the despair I’d often felt traveling through Tenovia. “He fights to keep peace. To save lives. He fights to keep those blasted Shadows out of our land and away from our people. It’s not the most conventional way to fight, I’ll give you that. But, he is able to keep peace with Elysia by hiding behind the guise of a rebel commander. And for now, there is nothing more important.”
I had nothing to say to that. I had assumed Taelon had been leading the rebellion as nothing more than an act of… well, rebellion. But Hugo spoke of him with such pride and confidence.
He turned, all that roguish arrogance evident in his smile.
“Well, enough politics for today,” Hugo declared. “Let’s enjoy our dinner and this unexpected reunion.”
To Oliver’s good fortune, not one piece of food was blackened improperly. Oliver and I tried to remain civil and responsive to questions directed at us, but Oliver, especially, found it difficult to tear his eyes, and his mouth, from the food. Honey-glazed root vegetables and spiced turnip soup. Stuffed sea turtle and crispy fish that I’d never heard of before. Our plates were never empty before the next course was served. And at the very end, a tray of desserts with cakes and meringues and tarts all baked to perfection.
As for the royal family, they were filled with patience and persistence. I wasn’t quite sure they’d ever seen two people so willing to eat every bite placed in front of them.
When coffee appeared after dinner, I felt uncomfortably wide. The new corset did not exactly allow for a second portion of glazed pipsaberry cake.
I was resisting the urge to rub my sore belly when Taelon leaned across the table. “Come with me?”
I looked around the table, embarrassed that he’d singled me out. “Pardon?”
“Take a ride with me,” he repeated. “I’ll show you the cliffs.”
I shook my head and whispered, “I can’t.”
He leaned closer. “You can.” I started to crumble. But it wasn’t until he added, “Please?” that I lost my resolve altogether.
“Alright,” I relented. “But only because if I don’t move now, I won’t be able to get up ever again.”
“Well, as long as you have a good reason.”
He pushed back in his chair and stood up. To his mother he said, “I’m going to show the Lost Princess the cliffs. Help her realize she’s at last been found.”
“For the record,” I added. “I never felt lost.”
Taelon turned to me. “But have you felt found?”
I had no reply, so instead I thanked my host and hostess for a lovely dinner and their hospitality.
Taelon walked around the table and helped me from my chair. When he’d taken my hand, he leaned in and murmured, “Tessana Allisand, welcome home.”
21
“Horseback or carriage?” Taelon asked.
I thought about going somewhere with him in the closed space of a carriage. Heat pooled in my belly. “Horseback.”
His smile turned into a victorious grin. “I remember you as an adventurer,” he said. “It is a relief to know that has not changed.”
“I’m not an adventurer,” I told him primly.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “You’re not an adventurer at all. Merely a girl who likes to see everything and do everything and experience everything. Brave enough to cross three kingdoms with nothing mor
e than a fox cubling and a not-so-silent monk.”
I thought about protesting, but it was silly now. Instead, I gave into the smile that had been making my lips twitch and met his focused blue eyes. “Perhaps I see your point.”
He stopped and I nearly ran into him. He turned to face me with his back to the stable’s entrance and his gaze intently on mine. “You’re so much like I remember you, Tessa. It’s hard to believe that the world did not change you more.”
“I was hidden away from it,” I explained. “There was not much of the world inside the Temple.”
He shook his head and stepped forward. His hand found mine and lifted until my fingers pressed against his heart. “Maybe,” he whispered. “But you saw plenty of the world before you left it. You’ve experienced enough grief to turn the purest heart to stone. And yet you’re lovelier than any wildflower. Brighter than any sun. You are untainted by the pain in your past, and Tessa, that makes you radiant.”
“Taelon…”
“Sir?”
Both of us jumped at the groom’s voice. I bit back an indelicate curse and moved my hand from Taelon’s chest to my own.
Taelon could not hide his disgruntled surprise when he turned to the servant. “Yes?”
“Your horse is ready.” He bowed low and I could tell from the blush staining his sallow cheeks that he realized his mistake.
Taelon must have noticed as well because he sounded kinder when he said, “Thank you, Boothe. That will be all for now.”
Boothe nodded and bowed again before scurrying back to where he came from. As Taelon led me through the barn, I felt something swell inside me.
I found Finare a few stalls down and went over to pet her gray coat. She pranced when she saw me, throwing her head back and tossing her white mane.
“Hey, pretty girl,” I murmured to her. “Miss me?”
Taelon stepped up beside me. “She’s truly taken with you.”
“Animals love me,” I bragged.
“You mean your fox?”
I pressed a kiss to Finare’s cold nose. “And your horse.”
He chuckled and reached for my elbow, guiding me toward the center of the stables.
“I hadn’t realized it was still light outside.”
Taelon led me over to where Thief waited for us next to a step stool. His black coat gleamed in the soft light and his big eyes glittered like onyx.
“We’re farther north than most,” he explained. “Our days are longer. They say that the sun would rather gaze at its reflection in the Crystal Sea than go to sleep.”
“Aren’t you going to have Finare saddled?”
He touched my elbow until I’d stepped onto the stool. “I thought we could both ride Thief.”
“Did you?”
“Well, I am a gentleman, so of course I considered two horses.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
“But I am also a diplomat. And I concluded that it would be easier to share state secrets if we remained in closer proximity.”
“Ah,” I laughed. “You’re bribing me with state secrets now.”
He leaned in. “Shh. I cannot be found out. My reputation is at stake.”
A blush spread across my cheeks. “Alright,” I conceded. “We can ride together. For diplomacy’s sake.”
“See how easy that was? I predict a beautiful alliance between our kingdoms.”
Taelon lifted me onto Thief and I landed as gracefully as I could, settling into the worn leather saddle, despite my rather voluminous skirts. I didn’t know what to make of Taelon or his teasing. Even though I had been surrounded by men for the last eight years of my life, I hadn’t managed to learn a single thing about them.
Other than the fact that they would do practically anything for the promise of a piping hot cherry tartlet.
I wasn’t so naïve as to not recognize flirting. I just didn’t understand it. Surely, Taelon knew that we could not be together. Our betrothal must have been voided shortly after my family’s deaths. And now that we were finally at a marrying age, he had one kingdom to rule and I had another.
He handed me a cloak. “The sun is warm now, but once it dips out of view, the temperature will drop.”
“Thank you.” I draped it around my shoulders, enjoying the fur lining.
Taelon landed behind me, his thighs pressing into mine, his chest covering my back, his hands holding my waist until he adjusted.
By the time he took the reins I found it difficult to breathe evenly.
“Keep the gate open for us,” he commanded Boothe. Then with a flick of his wrists and a gentle prod with his heel, Thief trotted from the stables. His hooves clacked against the smooth granite and soon enough, the twilight enveloped us.
We took off down winding paths that skirted the edges of towering cliffs. The Crystal Sea stretched endlessly, sparkling beneath the sun like a blanket of diamonds.
The countryside of Soravale moved something deep within me while we clopped across seastone bridges over deep gorges set between cliffs. The sun kissed our skin as it dipped lazily behind the horizon.
True to his word, Taelon pointed out monuments along the way and shared some of the history of Soravale. We passed a shrine made to a mighty warrior that had slain two dragons and saved a village from pirates. We rode by manicured gardens with shallow pools made by clever designs to catch the seaspray. They sparkled, reflecting the golden sunlight and the pastel clouds hovering above them.
Soravale was not a quiet kingdom. The Crystal Sea crashed against the base of the cliffs and sprayed water as high as the road we traveled. Sea birds cawed as they swooped low for their supper, only to return again with a mouthful of fish.
But soon I heard a roaring louder than all the other noise.
“What is that?” I asked Taelon.
I couldn’t see his face, but somehow I felt him smile. I could picture it tilting his full lips and hiding in the depths of his blue eyes. “I’ll show you,” he promised.
His heels pressed into Thief’s sides and the steed took off, his hooves clicking furiously on the smooth road. The cliffs became more treacherous. The surfaces of the bridges we crossed were slick with the ocean spray and if Thief accidentally tossed me over the side, it would be a very long time before I hit the bottom.
But then I saw it. Amenon. Or something very close to it.
Away from the sea, the cliffs fanned out to make an enormous circle of falls that glistened like crystals. The cliffs rose up to a peak, pointing toward the sky as if their chests could not help but puff up from their great beauty. They tipped proud faces toward the sun and boasted their splendor.
And all around, water poured from their mouths. It crashed toward the center with the violence of an army and the elegance of a swan.
“Taelon…” I whispered, half furious with him because he had not warned me that Soravale would steal my heart.
Thief came to a stop and I dismounted. My feet landed on uneven, wet ground which caused me to nearly topple.
“Careful,” Taelon called after me. “The ground is slippery.”
“You should have told me,” I scolded him. “How could you have kept this a secret?”
I glanced back to find his answering smile. The heat of it warmed me to my bones and the look in his eyes was as startling as the majesty around me.
“I wanted your awe,” he admitted.
“You have it.” I turned back to the view and soaked in every detail, every dip in the cliff surface and every tumble of water as it cascaded down the sides. A hundred rainbows crisscrossed through the water, tangling together in brilliant light and color.
I felt drops on my face and the dampness of my clothes, but it only added to the allure of this spectacular place.
“What do you call it?” I asked him.
“The Fall of Kings,” he replied.
“The Fall of Kings?”
“For those who have not been careful,” he explained. “And because there is a fall for each of the nine
kingdoms. The one we're standing nearest to is Elysia. It is the tallest. The one to the right, equal in width, is Soravale of course. And so on, around the pool they go.”
I started to walk toward the edge. I had to see over the side.
“Tessa,” Taelon warned. “I just found you. I am in no hurry to lose you again.”
I laughed. He had no idea. I felt the same way. I was lost for the last eight years, but now I had been found.
The path in front of me had been made clear and I could do nothing but run toward it. I had not once dreamed of being Queen of Elysia. And yet, now, what else could I do?
My elegant boots from the Soravale shoemaker slipped and slid over the precarious terrain, but I stayed on course until I stood at the cliff’s edge.
The water crashed against the pool below. Foam-topped waves bubbled and spread. My feet settled more firmly on top of the Elysian cliff and I felt my blood simmer and churn just like the water below.
I spread my arms to the sides, straight out, and let the wind catch me and threaten to blow me away. The water sprayed my face and my clothes. My heart pounded. My head buzzed with an unfamiliar energy.
I felt like a queen on this cliff. I felt like I ruled the world.
I lifted my face toward the sky as the sun set beyond the horizon. Night fell. Stars came out of hiding and twinkled above like a million priceless diamonds. And all the while the water roared beneath my feet, gliding toward the pool where it would spin and dance and become something greater.
It would grow from a tiny droplet to a formidable body of water. Into something dangerous.
When I finally turned around, ready to become my own intimidating, daunting creature, I found Taelon propped against a tree, with his arms crossed over his chest.
“It’s late,” I commented inanely. “I hadn’t realized. I lost track of time.”
As I walked closer, I noticed that his expression had changed from earlier. He was no longer teasing and warm, but something else entirely. Something scorching hot.
His blue eyes had deepened and his mouth had turned into what was not quite a smile, but was most certainly not a frown.
Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy Book 1) Page 19