Page 100 of Tashama
“She sees something, but she fights allowing me to see what she observes,” Carissian interrupted.
The prince squeezed Tashama’s arm more tightly. “You must let me know what you see, Tashama. I can be quite hard to live with when I want to know what gifts my courtiers want to bestow upon me, and they want to keep them secret from me until the appointed day.”
“All right.” Tashama looked back at Carissian. “Ask your sorcerer.”
Aleron turned to Carissian, who smiled back at him. “You wouldn’t wish for me to say, Your Highness.”
“What?” the king said.
“You are kissing the lady, and she finds the experience most pleasurable.”
“You didn’t have to let him see this.” Aleron pulled Tashama along at a quicker pace.
“Now you are pulling me along as if we were in a race.” Tashama laughed.
“So, where do I get to enjoy such a pleasurable experience with you?”
“That I don’t know.” Tashama’s eyes studied his dark brown ones. “Maybe it’s just a figment of my imagination.”
Aleron shook his head. “No, and not just wishful thinking either.”
“Sire,this continued delay to select a bride from one of the eligible women of our realm confounds me.” Carissian sat in the king’s anteroom. Aleron leaned back in his chair as it was situated behind his desk while he observed the mermaids in his mural. Carissian added, “She’s been so demure of late, I thought perhaps she was settling down to the notion she would just live with us, but something is brewing in that crafty mind of hers.”
Aleron glanced over at Carissian. “What?”
“I knew I could get your attention.”
“What is she planning to do now?”
“I’ve considered how we could turn her over to General Karam’s forces. He will keep her as safe as he can, and she will undoubtedly encourage him to remove Loran from his throne. We couldn’t hope to do better than this.”
“No.” He resumed considering his mural.
“You cannot marry the Karthlander princess, sire.”
The king frowned at him. “I am king now, yet you still insist on telling me what I must and must not do from time to time. Remember, you advise me, you do not command me.”
“Yes, sire.”
“Besides, who says I was interested? And if I were interested in marrying her, what makes it so wrong for me to do such a thing?”
Carissian groaned.
“What?”
“We have been at war with the Karthlanders for ten long years, isn’t that enough? Your people would revolt if you took one of theirs for your wife.”
“What word have we concerning General Karam’s forces?”
“They haven’t moved from Chrisholm Island, sire. Seems the bountiful food, pleasant weather, and willing women have given them other options than continuing the war with us.”
“And we’ve made no progress at liberating the island?”
“The natives seem content with the presence of the Karthlanders. What’s the difference if one people rules in place of another anyway?”
Aleron nodded as his thoughts returned to Tashama. “What is she planning now?”
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