The scout yelled at the top of his lungs as he came into the Great Hall, “They are an hour away!”
There was little time to do anything else but make sure the bread wasn’t burned and check on the archers on the walkway. Laun wasn’t going to do either of those.
Laun Dresden, Lady of Salam-Dir, was handing a stack of paper and parchment to Geralk to clear the head table as Orgia looked with a disapproving eye at them from the kitchens’ door. Laun had wanted to have a meeting with the people who could give input, but it was going to have to wait, and Laun was going to have to play the next few hours by ear. She was used to that, but it would have been nice to get solid information and some opinions before Falmir had arrived.
She actually missed Falmir. She was scared shitless to what was going to happen once he found that she had been harboring his father, her grandfather, at the Salam-Dir keep. Falmir had created a coup backed by the neighboring Kingdom of Rosemond just over a year before and Laun had been a thorn in Falmir’s side ever since. King Dreng was a big hurdle, but not the only one with the first visit King Falmir was having to Salam-Dir.
Laun pushed herself up off the bench and settled her tunic around her growing belly. She had been woken far earlier than usual by the babies in her belly seemingly to dance along her ribcage, and on her bladder. The trip to and from the privy that morning had been a welcome familiarity and had made the last few days seem more real than the last few months. Going back to bed in the morning dim was well worth being woken by the babies.
Having been kidnapped had not been as pleasant. Especially when it had been by someone she had trusted in her bed and with her sword. But he had taken the ransom Falmir had offered and had bought enough supplies and hired enough men to help keep the Salam-Dir lands impenetrable while Laun had wormed her way through the political scene in the Palace, and into Falmir’s heart. »Read More