Page 47 (2/2)

Lanthe had also written that the new Vrekener king would like to personally old

In her letter to Lothaire, Lanthe had reintroduced herself, then related that heaven was under new ement The Vrekeners wanted only peace with the Dacians, so could the two factions reach an accord? She hoped the et to the Enedoht who had yet to fail on a delivery

She’d also written to Nïx:

From Nereus’s bedroom(don’t ask), I saw Furie, trapped at the botto as well as can be expected—ie, cataclys the pain to Sargasoe soon? PS We sure could use soht up here in the Skye

With all those letters written, Lanthe had struggled with a thy explanation for her sister She’d started—then wadded up—more than a dozen of them She hadn’t been able to decide howto tell her big sister to her face: “Well, I kind of misled you for centuries” It was quite another to write it out

How to explain what Thronos had come to inning, the day she’d first otten to the—heavily edited—faux Feveris part She’d given herself a deadline of onethe sky for Thronos He’d be home soon to take her to the bastion for dinner

He’d beentheir defenses and ianized their first drill There’d been sos

His body was paining hiony in front of others The stress of leading a real He was exhausted frorief

In Pandemonia, he’d told her that when he’d realized his father had killed her parents, he’d looked up at the er He felt the same way about his brother—

She heard the now fas When she ith him and they were able to close out the world, life could be sublime When she wasn’t with himnot so much Unable to hide her customary jolt of excitement, she leapt up from the desk “You’re hoht for their bedroo body was like a tree gone tiood, huh?” She clis” When he parted them, she straddled the small of his back

He turned his face to the side “I had o dine with others right now

Oh, darn They’d have tohall? Not a problely tasty breads, and divine cheeses—for just such an occasion

When she began to knead his ods-send, laotten ink prints all over the back of his shirt Oops “Uo?”

“The alarer it is in the Hall Every island needs this ability to sound the alarm”

“It’ll coued muscles

“Tell me your day was better thanthis “Hoas your day, dear?” conversation with hi-wed couple

But the two of theht after dinner, they assailed each other—even if he’dthose stolen daytiainst the wall or atop her desk, with his hand over her s into his forearht her release, he grew more sexually confident More cocky

Which was hot as hell

If he ca her over the edge The first time he’d done this, she’d cried, “Oh! Ohhh” and felt obligated to say so before he tasted his own seed

He’d answered, “It’s unavoidable Throughout every day and night, I will fill your sheath and kiss it at every opportunity Besides, it’s led with you—never deny me that”

Wicked, pervy Vrekener

Once the worst of their need had been slaked, they would read correspondence together He alanted her opinion on things More than once he’d told her, “When you said you wanted to co-rule, I took that very seriously Tell me what you think”

Now he asked her, “Did you pick up your new clothes?”

“I did!” Her second day here, she’d realized that she needed lots of new garments, and that they should be fabulous since she was a queen and all Even if her subjects were laar circle with instructions for strapless dresses Lanthe figured she would split the hemline difference with Thronos—mini instead of micromini

“How did the females treat you this time?” he asked “Did they, u circle—by now everyone knew their sorceress queen could bespell theotten some attitude

After she’d faced down the females of Omort’s court and vanquished a sorceress like Hettiah, those Vrekeners had been a cakewalk “No, I shut that down” Res—if one shows me fear, he shows me respect—Lanthe had returned the ’tude and then some

In other words, her clothes had been rush-ready! The dresses were plain white, but when she wore them with the necklace

Not too shabby

Of course, her current dress hite—and ink “Anything new about Aristo?” Every day, e horror stories about the previous king and his three trusted knights Those four had been a scourge on the Lore, hiding behind a cloak of righteousness

“It’s everything you warnedof a people who believed in chastity until htness in all instances, Aristo had kept several love nests, drunk like a fish, and lied about his behavior

She’d thought she would feel vindicated when Thronos cos Instead she hurt for hi responsible

“Things can only get better, right?” he asked

“Speaking of which, I got a response from Bettina today” The queen of the Deathly Ones had reported progress with her Vrekener phobia, but she’d still been less than enthusiastic to meet with one