Page 65 of Lhora
A wry grin spread over his face. “I could do with a hot bowl of tallva.”
“I think we can scoop up a ladle or two.” The Esstika left the room with Fallmin right behind her. Duren unbuckled the belt to hand back to Lhora. As she slipped it over her hips, they headed for the small dining area off the kitchen.
“You have a lot of guards stationed inside the manse,” Duren remarked.
She checked around them. Now that he’d mentioned it… “I’ve grown so used to seeing them here, I don’t notice them anymore.”
“Well, they notice me.”
He was right. Each guard was keenly aware of the fact that a Coltrosstian walked among them. “They’re also aware of the fact that I’m armed and you’re not,” she reminded him.
“What will happen when I get my weapons back?”
“As long as you don’t reach for them, you’ll be fine. Don’t give them a reason to believe I’m being forced to do anything, or that I or the Esstika are under any threat.”
“There’s only one thing I’d attempt to force you to do right now, but this is not the place for it,” he murmured against her neck. His breath and his words sent a little thrill down her back, and she cast him a playful look. He grinned, then it disappeared as he looked at the couple walking ahead of them. “Lhora, at some point we’re going to have to have a serious discussion.”
“I know. We will.”
They passed the main dining hall and continued into a smaller room with a smaller table with six chairs. Duren watched as she took a seat and patted the back of the chair beside her.
“You have a dining room off of the dining hall?”
“Sometimes we like to eat and converse as a family,” Fallmin said, sitting next to his wife. “Dining hall’s too big. Can’t hold a nice, private conversation in there, either.”
A servant entered. Kai requested they be served breakfast. The man bowed his head and left.
“Duren.” Kai straightened in her seat. Lhora saw her father reach across, under the table, presumably to take her hand. “We seem to have a dilemma.”
“Indeed, we do,” Duren replied. Taking a deep breath, he faced the both of them. “I seem to have fallen in love with the Esstiss.” He nervously tapped the table with his fingertips. “How does one go about asking the enemy to join with the next Esstika of their lands?”
Lhora saw her parents’ gazes lock onto her. “You agreed to his proposal?” Fallmin inquired.
She read them. As he continued to do, her father was blocking her. But her mother’s emotions were brilliantly clear. She was sad, a bit somewhat disappointed, but also happy, as well as cautious and worried.
Lhora took her father full-on. “Open yourself to me.”
The Gur glanced at Duren, then back at her. Like a door opening, he allowed her to access his feelings. They echoed her mother’s except for one.
Anger. Black anger.
At her? Or at Duren?
The servant reappeared. He carried a stack of bowls and plates, and four mugs, all of which he laid in front of them. Another person entered the room, followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth. Each one had either a platter, a tureen, or a large pot. A sixth servant entered with two pitchers. Kai ordered them to place the food and drink on the table and leave.
Lhora’s eyes never left her father. After the servants left, she reached out and placed a hand on Duren’s shoulder, deliberately marking him as hers. She noticed how Fallmin’s face paled slightly.
“What is your fear, Father? I can understand your anger because he’s Coltrosstian but not your fear.”
“Will he take you away from us?” the Gur finally voiced.
“No,” Duren flatly stated. “She’s to be the next Esstika. She belongs here.”
“And you’re to be the next Sarpi,” Kai pointed out. “You belong in Coltross.”
“Which means any sort of…merger…that you plan to make…” Fallmin began, but his voice died away.
“Right now, Lhora and I are not the issue,” Duren said. “We can discuss her and me at a later time. Right now we need to focus on the immediate danger. My father is on his way here with several of his battlecruisers and who knows how many Tra’Mellian warships. If I don’t figure out a way to defeat—”
