Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs, Book One) Read Free Page B

disappointed, but softer than Aniri expected. Her mother pulled something from Aniri’s hair; a briar came free, even as a strand of hair tried to hold it. “Has Janak told you why I summoned you?”
    Aniri nodded.
    The Queen frowned. “I had hoped to meet you in your chambers this eve to discuss this matter. But when I found you were gone...” She took a deep breath, as if summoning her patience from some deep well—and she had to reach all the way to the bottom, in Aniri’s case. “I had a feeling Janak might know where you had gone. I’m glad he returned you safely.”
    This wasn’t the tongue lashing Aniri had expected, which for some reason raised her hackles. Perhaps because she knew what was coming next: the complete loss of her future. “I was perfectly safe the entire time, Mother.”
    She smiled. “Safe doesn’t always mean what we think it does.”
    Aniri raised her eyebrows. Her mother didn’t usually speak in riddles.
    The Queen sighed again and drifted to her desk. Her long-fingered hands tapped the communiques there. Finally, she faced Aniri again, her arms folded to bring the sweep of golden cloth to the front, an imperious shield.
    “Aniri, I know how much it meant to you, the coming of your birthday.”
    Meant.
Past tense. Aniri’s chest caved in a little. She waited for the rest.
    “This attack at the border...” Her mother paused. “The people are troubled by it and impatient for a security I have difficulty providing them under the circumstances.”
    “Because the Jungali have developed some kind of new weapon,” Aniri said flatly. She really couldn’t care less about the politics, although Janak was probably right. She should have been paying closer attention. At least then she wouldn’t have allowed herself to fall for a Samirian courtesan who could never be hers.
    “Perhaps.” Her mother took Aniri’s measure with her gaze. “Or they could be simply saber-rattling. The Jungali have many internal factions, and it’s difficult to know how much is bluster for their own people and how much is a true threat to Dharia. But our people would be reassured if we secured a peace treaty with the Jungali, and Prince Malik seems sincere in his offer.”
    For once, Aniri wished the Queen would simply be her mother. To think of her daughter first, before the country. But that would never happen, and it was foolish to wish for it. As foolish as falling in love with a courtesan.
    Aniri’s stomach hollowed out, as if she hung over a deep precipice with nothing but silk threads keeping her from plunging to her death. “Have you already accepted his offer?”
    “No.” Her mother watched her again, definitely measuring her response.
    Aniri tried to keep her shock and relief to herself, but it proved impossible. “What?”
    “Aniri, I am not going to arrange this marriage for you.”
    “I... I don’t understand.” Her heart was hammering now, threatening to drown out the soft raspings of silk on silk as her mother strode over to take Aniri gently by the shoulders.
    She pushed back Aniri’s hair, tucking the coarse and wind-blown strands behind her ear. “You are so like your father. I know that to lock you into a marriage, even for the best intent of our country, would be like caging a wild bird. You would beat yourself bloody against the bars.”
    Aniri just stared into her mother’s soft brown eyes. Who was this woman?
    A soft smile graced her mother’s face. “Don’t you wonder why your father always traveled far and wide?”
    “I... um... no.”
My father.
Why were they talking about him? Aniri’s mind spun. “Because he liked to see new things?”
    “He did, but it was more than that. He
needed
to be free, to travel, to be away from the rigors of the court. And for all the peace in the Queendom, I couldn’t deny him that, no matter how much I feared for his safety every time he left the palace grounds.”
    Aniri was confused by this turn, but hope quickly surged from the