Shadow's Son Read Free Page A

right away. I have
amazing news! Anastasia is to be married this Yeartide Day and to such a
dashing man. His name escapes me at the moment, but he's very tall and
handsome. Did I mention he was an officer in the Sacred Brotherhood?"
    "No, mistress. But-"
    She flew past him without waiting for another word. Father would be
ensconced in his study with his books and papers. Retired from his government post for four years, he still maintained his connections in political circles, a thing for which she was especially grateful. Someday those
connections would net her a smart match like Anastasia had just made.
    Josey paused on her way to the stairs. An unfamiliar overcoat hung
from the brass rack on the wall.
    "Fenrik, who visits with my father?"
    "A man from the palace, milady."
    "From the palace?" She raced up the wide marble steps.
    "He does not wish to be disturbed."
    Of course Father would want to see her straightaway. A visitor from
the palace could only mean one thing. Her father was finally making a
match for her hand, and to a man from an outstanding family. Her heart
was ready to burst from her chest. Just to think, she and Anastasia could
both be married by this time next year.

    A curtseying maid passed on her way to the study. Josey paused for a
moment at the door. She couldn't remember it ever being closed. She
glanced down the hall. The chambermaid was gone. On an impulse, she
pressed her ear against the wooden panels. The voices of two men murmured on the other side. A tendril of guilt knotted in her belly, but she
didn't pull away. If this visitor was here to discuss her matrimonial
options, it concerned her more than anyone. But she couldn't make out
what was being said. She wished they would speak up.
    The voices ceased and Josey jumped back as the door opened. She
smoothed the front of her dress and did her best to look as if she had just
arrived. The guest was a tall gentleman, younger than she imagined. A
sigil of crossed keys was emblazoned on the breast of his gray mantle,
which he wore over a suit of the same color. He had a sallow face with a
nervous look about him, a look that amplified Josey's anxiety. Had their
discussion not gone well? Had Father not offered an adequate dowry? She
was bursting with questions. The man bent in a stiff bow before striding
past her to the stairs.
    Josey peeked inside. Her father sat at his perennially cluttered desk
with a hand pressed to his forehead. The light from an open window illuminated his pate, bald save for a halo of sparse white hair around the crown.
He would be sixty-two this winter. She remembered how strong and tall he
had looked when she was a child. Now, he spent most of his time in this
study, surrounded by the trappings of his former power. The room was
stuffy and warm, but he kept a blanket wrapped around his legs.
    He straightened when he saw her. " Josey I didn't hear you return. How
was your shopping? Did you find Anastasia well? I want to hear everything."
    "Father." She entered and sat in the leather chair beside his desk.
"Who was that man? Fenrik said he came from the palace."
    He reached out to take her hand. His fingers were thin and cold.
    "His father was a friend of mine. In younger days, the two of us were
powerful men. Members of the Court vied for our attention and would give
much for our patronage, but now he's dead and buried and I am an old man."
    "You are still a great man. I just had this notion your visitor was
calling about something ... more auspicious."
    "Ah." He placed a finger alongside his nose. "You thought he came
with a betrothal offer."

    She tried to blush, but it was a trick she'd never mastered. "It was
silly of me. I'm only seventeen, I know."
    "Seventeen and as lovely as a rose in bloom. I wish I had such an offer,
Josey. Sadly, the news is not so gay. There are rumors of strange troubles
in the north. Banditry and worse. Envoys have gone missing and things
are deteriorating here