The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

them Icould see a hint of something else. “You should visit the capitalmore often, there are endless opportunities to reacquaint yourselfwith it here,” she suggested.

That was the last thing I wanted. Ihad lost all desire for the company of the nobility, and theQueen’s presence felt like a burning pain. My scars began toitch.

“I have not been to the capitalsince…,” I paused, unable to finish that sentence. Instead Irestarted, “It has been months, Your Majesty.”

She reached out toward me as if totouch my arm, but stopped when she saw my involuntary withdrawal. Ihad stepped back an inch.

“Mordecai, you do realize I neverwanted things to happen as they did, don’t you?” she said with asad, almost lonely note in her voice.

“Certainly,” I replied, but I put noeffort into sounding convincing.

“Yet you haven’t answered my letters,”she pointed out.

I faced her then, looking into hereyes. “It’s difficult, Your Majesty. My mind knows the truth, butmy heart, it remembers the shame. Give me time.”

“There is no one to hear us,” shereminded me. “You don’t have to use the honorifics.” The spacearound us was empty, and for a moment I realized, so was she—emptyand alone, isolated by power.

Whatever else she was now, Ariadne wasMarcus’ little sister, the girl who had tried to follow us on ourchildhood adventures. As Queen, she needed friends more than ever,and yet I had shut her out of my heart.

I stared at my feet. “I’m sorry. Ican’t help how I am now, but I think it will get easier.” It waseasier to think now that I no longer had to watch her emotions playacross her features. Even then my mind itself turned away, seekingto retreat into the plan it had been working on only momentsbefore.

Blood, that’s thekey, I realized with suddeninspiration. Take it now, or else you’llhave to come back later. Using my willalone, I reshaped the inside of my signet ring, creating a sharp,jagged edge.

“The distance between us pains me,Mort. We’re still family,” she said.

We were first cousins, once removed,and now that her parents were gone, I was the closest family shehad, except for one other. I decided to change the subject. “Iheard the good news about Roland. Congratulations.”

Roland, her younger brother, hadturned up only a month past. He had been presumed dead, but hisbody had never been found. Once his story was told, we found outthat he had been away from Lancaster when the attack had happened.Roland had always been an avid outdoorsman, much like his father inthat regard. He had returned from a hunt to discover his keepdestroyed and had only narrowly escaped being captured by theShaddoth Krys before he understood his danger.

Alone, he had retreated into themountains. He had planned to build his own shelter and try towinter there, but by some stroke of good fortune had found a smallcottage in the rough foothills. A shepherd, along with his wife anddaughter lived there.

They had accepted him into their home,and he had exchanged his labor for a warm bed and food. He had alsobeen smitten by their daughter.

Ariadne grimaced, “I am glad to havehim returned, but his situation has made things moredifficult.”

“You mean his common wife?” I saidpointedly. It was a loaded question, since my own wife, Penny, wasa commoner too.

She nodded, “For a nobleman it can bemanaged, but for a royal…”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to dealwith it. He seems very happy,” I observed. “I would think hisreappearance might create bigger problems for you.” According tothe laws of succession, her younger brother should have beencrowned king if he survived. A woman could only ascend to thethrone if there were no sons.

“Some have tried to make a problem outof it,” she agreed, “but Roland wouldn’t cooperate. The first thinghe did once he got to Albamarl was to formally abnegate his rightto the crown.”

“I bet that caused a stir.”

Ariadne grinned. “It did indeed, butthe troublemakers don’t have a leg to stand on now. Roland neverwanted the throne. Even the duchy is a burden to him, though I didmanage to convince him to resume his place there.”

“What would he have done otherwise?” Iasked.

She laughed, “He wanted to go back andlive out his days as a simple shepherd. Melanie’s parents madequite an impression on him.”

Melanie, I had probably been told thename, but I had forgotten it. “I can’t say that I blame him. I’vewished the same a few times,” I said wistfully. Without realizingit, I had already begun to relax in my conversation with Ariadne,forgetting for a moment the pain that had kept me segregated fromher.

Ariadne peered at me compassionately,“Do you ever wonder what life would have been like if you hadn’tdiscovered your heritage, if you hadn’t become a wizard, or acount? You might be there still, hammering away in your father’ssmithy.”

“More so now than ever before,” Ianswered softly.

My words moved her then, and shereached out, seeking to clasp my hands within her own. It was agesture that was full of warmth and familial closeness. Before shecould complete the movement, I opened my hands and caught herswithin them, squeezing firmly. She jerked as the sharp metal edgeon my ring cut the back of her right hand, drawing a bright redbead of blood.

“Ow! What was that?” she exclaimed,pulling her hands away.

“Damn, I’m sorry,” I said immediately,pulling out a handkerchief to daub the blood from her hand. “Icaught my ring while working on something the other day, and itleft a spur of metal.”

I had ruined the moment, and the lookin her eyes held a question. Despite our shared history, I saw theseed of distrust there. It was something I had learned to spot inmany of the faces of people who still wondered if I could reallyhave regained my full humanity; the doubt, the worry that I mightstill have something of the monster in me. She blinked, and thefear was hidden again.

“Why don’t you fix it?” she asked withsome exasperation.

“I’ve meant to do that, but I keepgetting distracted,” I confessed.

“I thought you could do somethingsmall like that with little more than a moment’s thought,” she toldme.

I could, and it had been just thatsimple to