Page 114 of The Shadowed Oracle
“My treasured guests,” she said. “You couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune time.” With a dramatic flourish, she lolled her arm to her right and rested it on the shoulder of the male sitting next to her.
The handsome friend of hers returned the gesture, interlocking his hands with hers. “Indeed,” he said loudly, orating for the crowd. “Come closer, friends, closer!”
The male’s smile revealed bone-white teeth and full cheeks. His hair and beard were both well-tended and thick, and he was of considerable height, ethereally handsome in a crown and velvet robe. Callinora had been right. The resemblance her husband Arryn had to Dean was uncanny. But that’s where the precision of her intel stopped. Sitting there like that, all doe-faced and jolly, he looked anything but hexed, or poisoned, or under any kind of a spell.
Callinora’s captured husband looked very much in love.
Deathly silent, Ingrid stopped at the bottom of the staircase, waiting for the royal pair to give their next command.
“Perfect.” Arryn clapped his hands together. “That’s better. Beautiful faces such as yours are always welcome here.”
“I do say, they are a lively bunch,” Enitha turned to Gerhardt, who’d taken his place just behind the queen’s throne, hovering over her. “You didn’t tell me they were so delectable, Gerhardt.”
The lord of treasury bowed, a self-satisfied look on his face. “I thought it would be best to surprise you, your Royal Highness.”
“Oh yes! A surprise. I do love those.” She looked to Arryn as if expecting him to pull out a pen and pad to write the declaration down for later.
“But let’s not get off-track,” Enitha continued. “Today is about much more than pretty things and pleasant secrets. Today is about celebration. It’s about… appreciation! And to do that properly, we must have some memento.” Enitha’s eyes darted demandingly back to Gerhardt.
He froze in place at the suddenness of it. “Oh, yes. Of course,” he stammered. “Come now. The Queen will see you and your wares. Only your finest!” He smiled so wide it seemed to pain him.
Dean was the first to respond. He bent to one knee and unlocked the crate full of jewels. “We have rarities from all over. Please, take your pick.”
The queen lifted herself in her seat a moment, getting a short glance at the gleaming gems, then again prodded at Lord Gerhardt with an unspoken demand.
“Bring them closer,” Gerhardt said shortly. “Please. Don’t be shy.” He kept his eyes on his queen all the time he spoke, as if waiting for another signal to stop. “The Queen mustn’t rush her decision. As she said, today is about celebration! A day that will be written about ten times over in the history books! Sung about in the songs!” He lifted his hands, raising his voice. “It shall go down as the happiest of moments in our long and storied court! Surely a pivotal and precious day! A most grandand… and quintessential affair! A momentous and no doubt unforgettable?—”
“Eh-hem.”
The queen’s indiscreet interruption seemed to physically knock all pretension from Gerhardt’s mouth. “With haste, my lovely new friends! Our beloved King Arryn is in need of his wedding gift!”
Raucous applause sounded off from the crowd. Congratulations and whistling wishes for the future swarmed the air like flies.
Loud as it was, Ingrid was glad of the noise, not entirely able to silence the sound of her shock.King. King Arryn. Whether it was legally recognized or not, they’d married. On the very day Ingrid and her team had arrived to take him back to his wife, Arryn had become King Regent of a rivalkingdom.
Queen Enitha raised up the hand of Arryn, the now former Prince of Maradenn, and said, “Together in this world. And the last.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ingrid couldn’t seeif a marriage mark was hidden underneath the rakish crown Arryn wore. Whether a new mark could even be accomplished, she could only guess. He wasn’t half-awake or reeling in agony from a broken bond—he was lucid, calm, verging on elation as he and his new wife surveyed the chest full of jewels that Raidinn and Dean presented them with.
“An Eolithe!?” He held the blue-grey gem up to his unblinking eye as he spoke. “How remarkable! I’ve never seen one up close.”
“One of our most popular, my king,” Dean said. He and Raidinn had returned to the ground floor of the throne room, nodding dutifully. “One of our partners procures them from the mountains I grew up not a day’s ride from.” It was a lie on both accounts, but Dean didn’t waver in confidence.
“Magnificent. What a blessing you arrived today, of all days.” Arryn kept his gaze on the gem, fixated. “My wife, she awoke witha feeling about today. A feeling! You see, our wedding was unplanned. Conducted on a whim.” He looked to his Queen. “A feeling!”
Enitha perked up. “I have been prone to these things,” she said. “Another blessing from the Mother.”
The crowd took a moment before realizing their participation was expected here, then shouted exalted affirmations.
“How Ealis smiles on you.” Dean slightly bowed.
“Indeed,” Arryn echoed. “She smiles on all of us today. If you’d told me this morning I’d be married and holding a Eolithe gem nearly the size of my skull, I’d have taken you for mad.” He looked to Dean again. “Are they all this big?”
“Not all, no. That particular piece was found deep in the mountain. A perilous, and dare I say artful task to retrieve it.”
“Fascinating.” His eyes were still glued to it. “You’ll have to forgive my ignorance. See, they’re almost impossible to get your hands on where I’m from.”
