A Promise of Iron by Brandon McCoy (the reading list .txt) 📕

same half-blind horse that had nearly killed me and cost me my chance at truesilver. Seeing him should have felt a surprise. I should have been elated and angered at yet another gift. But when I watched Fedorick pass the few remaining coaches, all I felt was disappointment.

“Well, there’s your third gift,” Crylwin mumbled as he stepped towards me. “I wanted to surprise you with him after dinner. Sorry, Rick cocked it all up.”

I offered my hand in thanks to him; he shook it silently. It was a kingly gift, and as thankful as I was, I couldn’t help but think the horse cost me my girl for the evening.

“You alright, Faerin?” Crylwin asked.

“Yeah, I was just hoping Rick had someone else with him.”

“You don’t like the horse? I thought you said—”

“No, no, Steven is great. Really. I just mean I was hoping he had Lira with him. Do you know if he had a chance to deliver the letter?”

Crylwin shook his head. “But, I’m sure she wouldn’t miss this night.”

I nodded, but I knew things weren’t always so simple. “Hold the line for me,” I said. “I am going to go check with Rick, see if he managed to speak with her.”

I took a few steps down the hill towards the stables. Fedorick made eye contact as he rounded the path. It said enough, and the apologetic smile halted me in my tracks. I didn’t need the details. The letter went undelivered; he either couldn’t find her or he did, and she declined. Maybe he went to her house, and her father intercepted the letter? It didn’t matter. What mattered was she wasn’t coming, and I would be stuck maneuvering through this snake pit alone. I drained my glass of cider.

I did my lordly duty and greeted the final guests before making my way to the crowd. There I would be expected to entertain as they smiled at me through clenched teeth. I filled my glass once more and headed into the shade.

Thereupon the wind, I heard it. If hope was a sound, it was that of wooden wheels upon a cobblestone path. I turned to see a stray carriage winding its way up the road to the inner wall. I raced back to the top of the hill and let out a long-held sigh. As the carriage drew nearer, that sigh lulled into a groan. On the door was a large blue wreath fanned around a golden ‘M’. M for Monroe. M for my dwindling hope.

The carriage stopped short of the hill. Ama Kerry pushed the door open. In an instant, Richard was there offering his hand, but she slapped him away and hopped out as spritely as a rabbit.

In all my life, I had never been so disappointed to see Kerry. She looked at me as she began the climb up the little hill to where we stood; her smile betrayed a secret. I looked then back to the carriage. My heart soared. A familiar hand, wearing a familiar copper ring, emerged from the carriage’s shadow into Richard’s waiting palm. With a gentlemen’s grace, he helped her down, and she strode upon the path behind Kerry. She was dressed in a tightly fitting gown of dark blue, blue like sapphire, blue like House Monroe.

Kerry greeted Crylwin. Words were exchanged, but I heard nothing. Patricia greeted her next; their words lost on the sound of the wind. My lord father stepped forward, wrapping Kerry in a tight embrace. All I saw was her; her, perfectly cast in the sunlight, long auburn hair flowing in the breeze.

She greeted Crylwin with a hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek. Patricia gave her an appraising look, one a lioness might make when another female approaches her hunting grounds. Lira was unfazed as she strode past, greeting my lord father with a proper courtesy as she extended her hand to him. He took her hand and pressed the back of it to his lips before gesturing to me with an open palm.

Then there she was, standing in front of me as all the world watched.

Chapter Twenty and Six

Summer 1272, Cyllian Imperial Count

Lira stepped towards me. “Your jaw, sir.”

I closed my mouth and placed my hand at the small of her back. I drew her close. Her lips touched mine, and in that moment, everything else faded away. To be sure, we had an audience, but I kissed her then as if we were the last two people in the world.

When we paused for breath, there was silence in the air, then a slow rhythmic clapping. “You see that, Richard!” Crylwin yelled. “That’s how you kiss a woman.”

Richard snorted.

“Well, that’s one way to feed the gossip mongers, Faerin,” Kerry scolded as she pushed herself between the two of us. She took both of our arms and led us down the path towards the Seveli market below.

Richard followed. “Matron, it is customary for Lord Faerin to—”

“Oh, stuff it, Richard. You lot have paraded the poor boy around long enough. Let Edwin handle his guests.”

Richard opened his mouth as if to object, then thought otherwise. Kerry moved us swiftly away, down the hill towards the pavilions.

“Ama, I can’t thank you enough for bringing—”

“Be like children tonight,” she interrupted. “Life is cold sorrow tempered only by nights like this.” She took my hand and placed it into Lira’s. “Cherish this night, my sweets. You will never be as young as you are tonight.” Then she turned back up the hill.

“Oh, I like her,” Lira said.

I held her hand as we strolled the path that ran between the vendors, talking of the days we were apart. She leaned her head on my shoulder. She smelled of vanilla. She tried on bracelets and scarves and unusual hats; I dickered with all the skills my people possessed. We bought nothing. We wanted for nothing.

When we reached the end of the path, I led her to a small bench beside a row of hedges. There, I felt