Daughter of the Disgraced King Read Online Free Page B

find Sav busy
setting up a picnic under a huge pine tree near the edge of the lookout. She
tugged on the end of her braid. This was going to be harder than she’d imagined.
Sav wouldn’t like what she had to say. She could only hope that he’d understand
her decision to wait. She couldn’t expect him to like it. She just had to make
him see that she wasn’t rejecting him. Well, it wouldn’t get any easier by
standing here watching him. She walked over and sat down on the blanket across
from him.
    Sav handed her a glass of wine. “So, have you had enough time
to think?”
    Ailsa sipped to give herself time to formulate an answer. She
looked up to meet Sav’s eyes. “No, I can’t decide yet, Sav. This . . . just
came out of the blue. And I can’t choose all in a day.” As Sav’s face drooped,
she hastened to add. “Until last night, I could only dream that you’d ever even
think of me that way.” She smiled at him, shaking her head a little. “I have dreamed about it—asleep and awake. But I never thought it would actually be
possible. So I made myself dream of other things, like helping keep Far Terra
green. I haven’t begun to have time to adjust my thinking. My head is still
spinning and I can’t . . . I can’t make a lifelong decision when I can’t even
think clearly.”
    Slowly, the corners of Sav’s mouth drew up into a smile. “You
dreamed about me?”
    Ailsa smiled back. “All the time. There’s never been anybody
else I thought about that way, Sav. I still can’t quite believe you actually
proposed to me last night. That it wasn’t just another dream. I never expected
anyone, least of all you, to propose marriage to me.”
    He blinked at her in evident surprise. “No one?”
    Ailsa shrugged. “It just didn’t seem possible. No one Mama
would deem worthy would ask—for fear of offending your father.” She looked
away, back to the view. “I’d made up my mind to dedicate my life to advancing
the work of making Far Terra into the garden it can be, someday. Especially if
I’m fortunate enough to have useful magic.”
    He reached across to take her hand. “But now you don’t have
to do that.”
    She squeezed his hand to take the sting out of what she had
to say next. “But I want to, Sav. I want to . . . to be of use. To make
a difference.”
    His eyes seemed to burn into her. “You could do that as my queen.”
    Ailsa swallowed and tugged on her braid again. “Look around,
Sav. Go look down at the view from the edge over there. You can see how badly Far
Terra needs mages. And the only ones who will stick it out despite . . .
everything, are ones that were born here, who love Far Terra as you and I do. So
few new mages have consented to come out from Terranion in recent years. And
they never stay long.” She looked up to meet his eyes. “I can’t do anything or
decide anything until I know what I’m capable of. And I can only be tested at
the Institute of Magical Arts. It may be that I have no significant talent. I’ve
certainly never been able to do most of the things Mama has tried to teach me.
Or I may have a talent that’s no use here.” That was her great fear, the one
she’d never voiced aloud. She could say it to Sav, though. “If . . . if it
turns out I’m a heat mage, like Mama, I might just turn around and come
straight back.”
    Sav’s shoulders slumped. “I see.”
    Ailsa reached across and took his hand. “Sav, why do you
want to marry me?”
    Sav looked into her eyes. “Because I love you.”
    Butterflies danced in Ailsa’s stomach. She couldn’t help
smiling at those words. She drew in a shaky breath. “Princes—especially Crown
Princes—don’t marry for love.”
    Sav tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers
lingering on her cheek just a little longer than necessary. “Princes don’t
often marry only for love. Sometimes, they’re lucky enough to fall in
love with a woman who will make the perfect queen.”
    Ailsa cocked her head to one