Red Rope of Fate Read Online Free Page A

as she stayed at Haven. Tari hadn’t much time to dwell how she felt, but for most of the morning a vague sense of resignation had plagued her.
    “Evlawyn, could you tell me where Captain Arion is?” Tari asked, pausing to stoop over a flowering bush of bleeding hearts.
    The handmaiden was quiet for a few moments, drawing Tari’s attention to her. “Certainly,” the attendant smiled shakily. “I believe I know where Captain Arion’s new office is located, but I must apologize in advance: I am not certain I know my way there.”
    Tari smiled and linked arms with the young elf. “I do not mind taking the scenic route. I know nothing of the palace. This will be an opportunity to view more of it.”

    Tari knocked on the door of Arion’s office, flashing her nervous attendant a smile as the young elf gawked at the human soldiers loitering down the hallway. Clearly she hadn’t often been in the human half of the palace.
    “Come in,” Arion said from inside the office, and Tari’s attendant startled when Tari opened the door and trooped in.
    “I will wait outside, Lady Tari?” the attendant timidly asked.
    “Yes, thank you Evlawyn,” Tari smiled before shutting the door behind her. She tipped her head when she beheld Arion seated behind a desk, looking vas tly different than the previous day.
    If possible he seemed even larger and more intimidating. Instead of wearing his formal wear, Arion was garbed in his captain’s uniform: a hauberk with a linen tunic of black and silver. Silver pauldrons with black accents covered his shoulders, and a large sword and assortment of daggers were buckled to his black belt.
    “Good morning Captain Arion.”
    “Good morning Tari,” Arion said, sparing her a glance before looking back to his paperwork.
    “I see they have settled you in,” Tari said, awkwardly standing as Arion had not asked her to sit. “I did not think they would be able to find you a new squad so swiftly. Unless your old squad coming to Haven?”
    “No. My previous squad was with the army and did scouting patrol for the Sacred Wood. My new squad is in the Honor Guard, and it will make patrols in the palace, and occasionally in the city,” he said, his voice emotionless.
    Tari nodded and studied the bookshelves that lined the walls of Arion’s office.
    Arion stopped shuffling papers and looked up for a moment. “What about you? Have they given you a new assignment?”
    Tari shook her head. “No. At the moment I have no responsibilities, beyond that of speaking to the translators, wizards, and enchanters of course,” she said, peering closer to inspect the book bindings. She couldn’t read them, they were written in the language of humans.
    “Ah,” Arion said, scratching a note on a scrap of paper with a feather quill.
    Tari studied a portrait of a hunting party. “Did you receive an invitation to tonight’s banquet?” she asked. Tari’s attendant had brought the stamped and sealed invitation with her morning breakfast of steamed buns, fresh fruit, and fruit preserves.
    “For Princess Claire’s bonding celebration? I did. You and I are expected to attend it together.”
    “So the invitation said. Shall we meet at the banquet hall?”
    “If you don’t mind, that would be the most convenient.”
    Tari was silent for a few moments before announcing. “My sister Kiva was bonded to Princess Claire. I imagine they matched them as Kiva already lives in Haven,” Tari said. She had barely registered the bond when she fled to Kiva’s side after the ceremony. It wasn’t until she dined with Kiva the previous evening that the realization sank in.
    Arion grunted.
    Tari glanced over her shoulder. Arion was bent over his paperwork, a slight frown on his lips. “Right, I shall see you this evening at the banquet then?” she said, making a beeline for the door.
    Arion looked up, blinking in surprise. “Yes…,” he slowly agreed.
    “Very well then, good morning Captain Arion,” Tari said before