Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
He was uncertain Aelia had a hold on him, that was a burden he refused to consider he forced his young daughter to bear.
But he was beginning to feel that Elena did.
And not simply literally.
To communicate a modicum of what this made him feel, he dipped to her, grazing her cheek with his until he found her ear with his lips.
“As I am a stranger in this land, it will be up to you to find someone to look after the girls while I take you somewhere in this sun-drenched haven where no one can hear how much you enjoy all the things I’m going to do to you.”
She trembled beneath him, and at the feel, he fought getting hard.
She also whispered, “I can manage that.”
“That’s good,” he muttered, kissed the skin below her ear and then rolled off her, pulling her to her side and wrapping both arms around her so he could fit her to his front. “Now go to sleep,” he ordered.
“As you wish, my prince.”
He closed his eyes. He heard hoots of owls. He felt Ellie’s soft warmth. Her steady breathing.
He also felt her living space all around them, which was not simple, nor sparse, or even small, but was filled with personality and colors, comfortable nooks and inviting furniture.
Last, he felt the night envelope them, here, in The Enchantments, where it was not just dark, but like a soft blanket holding the sun at bay so there could be rest.
And he opened his eyes when Dora yelled, “Ellie, can Aelia try riding a horse tomorrow?”
The team up.
Aelia had successfully been silenced, so Theodora became the mouthpiece.
“Not if you both don’t go right to sleep,” Elena yelled back. She cuddled closer to him and mumbled, “I fear we’re going to have our hands full, sweetheart.”
He didn’t.
He didn’t fear it in the slightest.
He hoped they added two, three, even four more before all was said and done.
He had never wished for anything, not a thing.
But a family.
Cassius didn’t share that.
He just pulled her closer, drew in the fragrance of her hair, and in the soothing calm of The Enchantments, he fell right to sleep.
65
The Surprise
The Sisterhood of the Nadirii
THE ENCHANTMENTS
That night, in The Enchantments, many a stool was taken, many a staircase was ascended.
The Sisterhood was talking.
A number of them had met Prince Cassius of Airen on the battlefield.
He was the enemy.
But even so, it was known wide he was not like his brother.
Even in battle, a fair fight was understood.
As was the dirty.
Cassius had been fair—honorable in victory, and defeat.
Trajan had been neither.
That said, it was with great surprise the sisters watched Cassius ride behind their princess into The Enchantments, and not simply because he was a male, an Airenzian male, an Airenzian prince in their realm.
But because he rode behind their princess into The Enchantments.
A woman in Airen rode in a carriage at the back of a procession.
In the rare instance she was astride a horse, again, she rode at the back.
A man did not follow a woman.
Never.
Not ever.
Prince Cassius seemed unbothered by this.
In fact, it seemed he took no note of it at all.
And this, the Sisterhood thought, was very strange.
Not bad.
But very strange.
The talk in treehomes, around fire pits and beside streams was not solely about this.
No.
For the ones who had witnessed it were speaking widely about how Prince Cassius of Airen had greeted his daughter.
A girl-child born to an Airenzian male, especially those of the aristocracy, was disregarded to the point that this event went so far as to be ignored.
If a boy-child had not already been sired, or if another one was desired, the male set upon his wife as soon as he wished in order to beget one, as if his daughter had not been born.
Therefore, it was with great surprise that the Sisterhood watched Prince Cassius lift his daughter in his arms, hold her, smile at her, talk to her and listen to her as if what she said did not mean something.
It meant everything.
Equally surprising was how close the girl seemed to his men.
Prince Cassius clearly doted on his daughter.
All those men did.
Of course, it was not unknown that Cassius had loved his deceased wife.
But this…
Further discussed was how he was with their princess.
Elena was a skilled warrior. She also was an exceptionally powerful witch. She held more power than her sister, definitely. There were even those who believed she held more power than her mother.
Elena loved and respected her queen.
She loved and respected her mentor.
She loved and respected her lieutenants.
And she loved and respected her sisters.
They loved and respected her.
She was easy-going, spiritual, observant, focused and attentive.
Most hoped that Ophelia would name her second born as her successor.
Thus, most were troubled when it became known she would not be Queen of the Nadirii, but Queen of Airen.
Perhaps troubled wasn’t the word for it.