Kinshield's Redemption (Book 4) Read Free Page B

nations. The beyonders had kept their old enemy from their shores for two hundred years, but the beyonders were gone. It was unlikely that Cyprindia had simply forgotten about the unsettled score.
    He entered his office and found Jophet pacing, hands behind his back. He’d shaved the graying beard he’d worn as the Lordover Tern’s Captain of the Guard, making him look a good bit younger than his forty-seven years, despite the gray hair at his temples and the wrinkles beside his eyes. His brow was drawn and his lips pressed tightly together when he looked up. “Ah, Lord Edan, good morning. I’m sorry to have interrupted your meal. I thought this a matter we should confer upon.”
    “Yes, I agree. Thank you. Have you spoken to the visitor? Has he come with forces?”
    “He has only a single guard with him, though they have a ship docked off the coast of Delam, no doubt filled with warriors. I’ve sent several First Royals out to search Tern for any others who may be waiting, but nobody reports seeing more than those two.”
    “What message?” Edan asked.
    “He says it’s for the king and queen only, and he won’t leave until he’s delivered it.”
    Edan nodded. “Let’s go talk to him, shall we? I want to see this man for myself.”
    “Absolutely. He’s in the receiving room.”
    Edan and Jophet walked together in silence through the palace to the receiving room near the front entrance. Four guards stood in the hallway, two flanking the door and two across the corridor, facing it. Four more guards stood inside the room, hands on weapons and ready to draw.
    Two men stood in the corner farthest from the door, both unusually tall and with wavy, dark-brown hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. There, their similarities ended. One was shirtless but for a small, metal breastplate covering his heart. His upper chest was tattooed with thick, black lines and swirls, forming a yoke. A similar band was tattooed around both upper arms. His body was chiseled with thick muscle, but his skin was unscarred—as near as Edan could tell—which was perplexing, given that his armor plate was so small. He wore what looked like a short, leather skirt and knee-high, brown boots that laced up the front. In his right hand, he clutched a glaive, whose blade point reached almost to the ceiling.
    The man made Edan uneasy. It wasn’t only his obvious strength or the glint of steel at his command. He had a fierceness about him and something else Edan couldn’t quite identify, a foreignness that went beyond merely speaking another language or having been born in a different land and culture. Edan felt better knowing he had four battlers at his back and Jophet beside him.
    The other man, adorned with a gold ring in his lower lip, was dressed in a long coat of golden yellow fabric that was richly embellished with red and brown embroidery and colorful accents that sparkled, like glass or gems. The coat was buttoned closed to the hip except at the keyhole-shaped neck opening. Beneath the coat was a brilliant red shirt with many folds and tucks, and a medallion pinned at his throat. Though his manner of dress was foreign, he looked sharp, as if he’d taken care with his choice of attire. This was the man who bowed on Edan’s and Jophet’s entrance.
    “Good day,” Edan said with a polite bow. “Welcome to Thendylath. I’m Edan Dawnpiper, Supreme Councilor of State and adviser to King Gavin. I believe you’ve already met Jophet Renoun.”
    “We are pleased to make your acquaintance,” the man said. Though he spoke with an accent, he enunciated clearly. “I am Kaoque Ewhirk, Twelfth Emissary to Lord Ruler Cicoque of Cyprindia, and this is my protector, Tokpah Woksu, Warrior Chief of the Eighteenth Battalion of the Cyprindian Force. We have come peaceably with a message for your king and queen.”
    Edan’s first impression was that Kaoque was amiable, polite, and intelligent. Considering the longstanding hostility between their two