Page 74 of A Touch of Royalty

“Emryn, come to me,” Cas said from the dais. “Ignore him, love, come and sit with me.”

She made her feet move, climbing the stairs to the dais and sitting in the chair next to Cas, who nodded, looking down at Asan. “Continue, First Wizard.”

Asan nodded, bowing to Emryn. “As near as I can tell, Highnesses, Majesty, the assailant was sent by Myconia, in a bid to take Emryn as a healer. Myconia is currently suffering in the grip of a plague.”

Cas nodded, and Emryn saw relief on his face, before he raised his eyes to the guards. “Remove him. The council will decide his fate.”

The guard trooped out, holding the chains of Emryn’s assailant and Cas rose, turning to face the Queen.

“Majesty, I recuse myself.” he nodded, helping Emryn from her chair. “I cannot be impartial when the attempt was made on my love.”

The queen nodded, raising a hand. “You are dismissed, we will inform you of our decision.”

48

HUNT

The hunts kicked off with much more fanfare than he was used to. But he had a wife now, and so the extra fanfare made a slight amount of sense. His mother was also telegraphing to the surrounding nations that all was well, that they were stable and sound as ever.

That Emryn’s near kidnapping had done nothing to destabilize the sovereign nation of Rodilla.

And it hadn’t. Her assailant had been sent to the road crew after a very terse exchange with Myconia. They had denied knowing anything, had protested that they’d had no part of an attempt on Emryn, and had remanded her assailant to them to do as they pleased.

So they had. They had sent him to the road crew with the understanding that if he put so much as a fraction of a toe out of line, he would not live to see another sunrise.

It hadn’t been what Cas had wanted, but he hadn’t had a choice in the matter. If it had been up to him, he would have gone to burn Myconia.

But it was good that it hadn’t been up to him. No one wanted war, least of all war with a nation that had knelt to the Eternal Empire.

Because the Empire would respond to the threat and Rodilla would be crushed. So Cas put it away and focused on his wife and his duties.

His wife was a pleasure, his duties were numerous, and they were more than enough to keep him from thinking about Myconia.

For the most part.

Emryn was acting odd, having nightmares and pulling back from him without explaining why. The first hunt of the season was today and he hadn’t been able to find her.

He finally summoned a page and requested her presence. If she was hiding, the page would find her. And then she would come and find him.

“Cas?” She walked into the room a quarter of an hour later. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes but I don’t know what it is.” He went to take her in his arms. “Will you tell me what the problem is Emryn? Or did you think I didn’t notice you pulling away from me.”

“It could have been you, Cas.” She looked up at him with tears starting in her eyes. “You could have gotten hurt and I don’t want Asan trapped in it either. I’m-”

“You are not at fault, Emryn.” Cas said firmly. “You never were. All the fault in this belongs to Myconia, and I have my suspicions about the Empire as well.”

“But-”

“No, darling, no. My love, I will not allow you to wound yourself with this.” He kissed her forehead. “Come back to me and I will make sure you’re safe.”

“I missed you,” she whispered, cuddling down into his arms. “I don’t want you in danger, but I missed you.”

He lifted her from her feet and carried her through to their bedroom, laying her on the bed and coming to cuddle her. “We ride out with the hunt in a little while, but we can rest for just a minute.”

The hunt wasn’t actuallya hunt. There were too many nobles, too much noise and the wildlife of the forest scattered in front of the panoply.

It was a chance for the nobility to look at the horses of the others, a chance to examine the stock and make breeding plans for the spring. It was also a pageant, a chance to show off their clothing and the preamble to the season, which meant matchmaking.

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