Heir of Amber and Fire by Rachanee Lumayno (read aloud books .TXT) 📕

have a month before your wedding, it might be prudent if the princess was busy preparing for it, don’t you think?”

I caught her meaning. Wedding tradition for Calian nobles dictated that the bride prepare for the wedding thirty days before the event. Only a close female family member, or in my case as an only child of royalty, my lady-in-waiting, could attend the bride during her preparation month. I sometimes found noble traditions stuffy and pointless, but I blessed this unforeseen advantage.

“I’d be happy to spend my bridal month in solitude,” I smiled. “But that doesn’t give me much time to find the dragon. And what will you and Mother do when the wedding day arrives and I’m not there?”

“I’ll discuss it with Queen Melandria. I’m sure she has a plan in mind.” Although Taryn spoke confidently, I could see the worry in her eyes.

I would have happily stayed in Rufan’s kitchen, clinging to the last remnants of familiarity. But I was also acutely aware of the day passing by, and of the danger I was sending Taryn back into.

I pushed back from the table and stood. “I suppose I should get going, then.”

Taryn and Rufan both stood along with me.

“Let me get you some food to take with you,” Rufan said. He picked up my forgotten bag, then moved to the larder and began pulling some items out.

I turned to Taryn and said quietly, “Perhaps, while I’m in ‘solitude,’ you could sneak my meals out here to your brother. I’d hate to see all that food go to waste.”

Taryn smiled, watching as her brother generously filled my bag to his satisfaction. “That’s a fine idea, Your... Allayne. And if my brother and his family don’t want it, there are plenty of people here who could use the extra food.”

Rufan brought my bag back and handed it to me. It was considerably heavier than when I had brought it downstairs.

“Thank you,” I said.

He nodded at me. “Safe travels.” He then turned to his sister, holding out a shiny new hair ribbon in pale blue. “I nearly forgot, Taryn. A gift from Patrice and me. She pointed it out to me this morning lying on our dresser, reminding me to give it to you; I’d never hear the end of it if I forgot after her reminder.”

Taryn laughed and took the ribbon with obvious delight. Immediately tying her hair back with it, she said, “Thank you, I love it. Blue is my favorite color.”

The three of us exited the house. I hefted the knapsack onto my shoulders and shaded my eyes, scanning my route. I was to go through the town and follow the road into the countryside, which would eventually take me to Orchwell. Taryn was to go back the way we had come, back to the castle.

“How will I contact you to find out how things are back in Calia?” I asked Taryn. “It’s not like I can send you letters from where I am. I don’t even know where I’m ultimately going.”

“Did you not learn anything over the last year?” Taryn teased me. “Use a calling spell, and you’ll be able to connect with me.”

“I don’t know how good I’ll be,” I said ruefully. “I only started learning that spell one month ago.”

“So practice,” she said. “I tucked your spell book in your bag.”

I smiled. Of course she had. Taryn always knew what I needed before I knew it myself.

She stepped toward me, then stopped, hesitating. I crossed the two extra steps and enfolded her in a hug. “Taryn, thank you,” I said to her. “For everything.”

“Be well, Princess,” she said, forgetting to drop my title. “Come back to us soon.”

I gazed down the road to Orchwell again, then the road that would have taken me back home to the castle. I looked back at Taryn. “Take care of my mother.”

Chapter Eight

SETTING OFF SOUTHWARD, I could feel the eyes of Taryn and Rufan on me as I walked away. I hadn’t made it very far when someone screamed. All of sudden the sleepy morning was punctuated by more yells and shouts as people ran toward the distraught and horrified woman, who was pointing down an alleyway just a few feet away from Rufan’s house.

Someone grabbed my arm. I nearly screamed myself, biting it back at the last minute when I saw Taryn at my elbow. Rufan was right behind her. “What’s going on?” I asked them.

“I don’t know, but let’s find out,” Taryn said. The three of us hurried toward the growing crowd at the alley entrance.

Rufan approached a man at the back of the crowd, who was craning his neck to watch the events unfolding. “Jarrod! What’s happened?”

The man turned around when he heard his name. Seeing Rufan, he clapped him on the shoulder, greeting him and pulling him closer at the same time. “When Mistress Karna went out this morning to throw away the scraps for the dogs, she found someone lying in the alley.”

“Another one?” Rufan asked. I was briefly confused about Rufan’s comment, until I recalled what Taryn had told me the other day about the palace kitchen maid, Sava, and how Sava’s brother had been found near Rufan’s house.

“Yes. But this... this one’s not crazy. This one is dead.” Jarrod shuddered, looking sick. Rufan and Taryn had similar looks on their faces.

“Was it...” I couldn’t even bring myself to finish. A murder? But, to my knowledge, Calia rarely had problems with violent crimes. Of course, people argued, and not everyone got along with one another. But, as a largely magical society, most people didn’t resort to physical or even magical violence to solve issues. We were the intellectual lot of the Gifted Lands — or, the know-it-all snobs, if other kingdoms were feeling uncharitable in their description — more likely to take someone to trial to win an argument instead of punch them. And there were harsh laws in place to prevent violence against those who didn’t have magic. I hadn’t