The Carnelian Tyranny: Savino’s Revenge Read Free Page B

t oday.”
    “More proof that Garon exists. Too many things have happened for it all to be sheer, dumb luck.” She took Darian’s hand, studying his masculine, yet graceful, fingers. “Did anyone ever tell you that you have nice h ands?”
    “No. But yours are cold as ice. We should get you in side.”
    “I’m fine.” She stared out at the pristine slopes for a moment, lost in her own thou ghts.
    “Do you still have the da gger?”
    She gave him a questioning glance. “Do you mean the one you gave me at the Mychen Fo rest?”
    He no dded.
    “Of course. I keep it on me at all times, just like you said.”
    “ Good.”
    “I don’t know how to use it, but just having it makes me feel be tter.”
    “I shall ask Bruno to teach you.”
    “If you in sist.”
    “It is colder up here than I thought,” he said, his eyes roaming the dark clouds above them. “We should go inside before you become sick. It would appear your lesson has ended an yway.”
    They descended the rampart steps and strolled across the courtyard, entering the Knight’s Hall as courtesans and servants stopped to bow and curtsey to the royal co uple.
    Although Marisa had been the Princess Regent for almost six weeks, the concept of being royal still seemed foreign to her. Both of her parents had been born into privilege as members of the royal families of Carnelia, but when their ship passed through the vortex to Earth, they were reduced to living as other commo ners.
    Lost in a world with neither the patience nor use for titles, the simple life of the MacCallum family in Oregon was all that Marisa had ever known. From an early age, her father had always instilled in her a quiet humility, teaching her to respect everyone equally, no matter their station in life. So once it had been announced that she was the lost princess and heir to the crown, it felt unnatural being treated in a superior manner. She found it especially difficult and awkward when elder noblemen and women bowed and curtseyed to her.
    “Shall we have a cup of tea in my chambers?” Darian’s voice echoed down the long marble corridor, pulling her from her thou ghts.
    She shrugged. “I guess nobody will mind if I skip c lass.”
    They ascended the grand staircase and strode down the long hallway, finally stopping at the royal suites. As he opened the door of his chambers, the heavenly scent of Carnelian pine met her nostrils, suddenly reminding her of her father. Already three months had passed since his death and, in many ways, it still felt like yesterday to her.
    Spotting Darian’s Paladin uniform hanging neatly in the corner, she moved up closer, stroking the dark wool cloak and skimming the metallic smoothness of the breastp late.
    “I’ll never forget when I first saw you. It took my breath away.”
    “Indeed,” he said, chuck ling.
    “I’m serious!” She smiled, settling onto a plush settee in the cozy living area. “I never bought into the knight-in-shining-armor myth back home. But when I saw your face hovering above me in the forest, I thought I was dreaming. You didn’t seem real.”
    “You did bump your head pretty hard…”
    “You were too handsome—almost too perfect to be real.”
    “Perfect is not the way those who know me would describe me.” He smiled, stretching his long legs as he leaned back in his chair. “But, I must admit, you took me by surprise as well. When I saw you lying there on the road, I was certain that I had discovered Queen E lyse.”
    She smoothed down the folds of her dress, thinking about the mother she had barely known. “I wish she was still alive. I’d ask her so many th ings.”
    “Mmm, yes, so wou ld I.”
    Glancing around his chambers, she admired the neat and orderly manner in which everything had been arranged. Her eyes stopped on a terracotta pot with a drooping white fl ower.
    “You mean to tell me that it still hasn’t blo omed?”
    He sighed melodramatically. “Alas, milady, I have still not found my