Queen of the Sylphs Read Online Free Page A

should be that surprised. Battlers were highly sensual creatures, as interested in physical love as they were in fighting. But Ril had always seemed immune to that, staying as he did with a male master that he never touched. Not that Leon wanted any kind of physical relationship with the battler. Apparently, Ril had just been waiting for the right woman.
    Lizzy. Leon shook his head. He had no idea how her mother was going to react to this little revelation, but he didn’t think he wanted to be in the room when it was announced. He was a brave man, but he wasn’t stupid. Betha didn’t dislike Ril—not exactly—but she’d always been of the quiet opinion that she had to share rather too much of her husband with him. Now she was losing a daughter to the battler as well.
    Still, at least Lizzy was alive, and there was no doubt she was happy. Leon was overjoyed that they’d been able to find her. She’d been kidnapped off the docks of Para Dubh, taken to Meridal and sold as a concubine to a battle sylph harem. Bound to her since she was seven years old without anyone knowing, including Lizzy, Ril had been able to track her, and he and Leon had gone to bring her home. It hadn’t been easy. Now, Lizzy was safe and they’d found an ally in the new queen of Meridal.
    The importance of Meridal was something Leon needed to impart to Solie as soon as possible. Sylph Valley had fifty battlers and still feared attack if the other kingdoms should band together. Meridal had seven hundred. Because of that, a friendship with them was vital. Leon had to get his family home and arrange for a diplomat to return to Meridal to make sure that Eapha didn’t forget her new friends in the face of all the changes she’d gone through: from harem girl to queen in an instant.
    Eapha didn’t just need allies, either; her entire country was still reeling with shock. She needed advisers, the same as Solie had when she first became queen. Leon’s first task would be to find them.
    It just couldn’t be him. Not this time. Such a position wouldn’t work without leaving Ril behind, and he couldn’t do that to his sylph or daughter. He would not leave the battler torn between two masters on different sides of the ocean or away from his queen. The adviser would have to be someone else, and it would have to be decided soon. Leon already had a few ideas, if he could be convincing enough. Those ideas would wait, though. For now he was just happy to be reunited with his daughter.
    Ril looked over, and Leon nodded in response. Surprised about the new relationship or not, Leon had to admit it was good for his battler. Before, Ril had hidden most emotions from his master, but now he seemed to revel in sharing them. Leon felt his battler’s happiness. Almost he could be jealous of that, but Ril sent him a flicker of annoyance as he turned back to Lizzy and Leon had to hide a smile. The very fact that his battler projected his emotions to Leon at all meant he wanted him to feel them. Leon was just glad he didn’t project everything.
    Ril glanced toward him again with a start, then past him, his lip curling in a snarl. Lizzy gave him an elbow.
    “Behave!” she snapped.
    Surprised, Leon looked behind him. A few feet back, a young man had stopped at the top of the stairs that led to the upper deck. He glared at Ril angrily, even as his throat moved in convulsive fear. Ril stared back, and Leon felt the battler’s hatred.
    “Easy, Ril,” he soothed, still looking at the boy. “Do you need something, Justin?”
    Justin turned, though his eyes didn’t leave Ril. Leon could tell what he was feeling. Ril couldn’t project the emotions of others to him, but he didn’t need any such help. Justin was a very angry young man. He’d come with Leon and Ril when they’d gone to rescue Lizzy, intending to announce his love and take her to wife. Instead, he’d ended up captured and turned into a feeder, a human bound to Ril as his master, but with his tongue cut