Shadow Over Kiriath Read Online Free Page A

questions about what was wrong with her.
    Then she saw what he was looking at and realized she needn’t have worried: the regalia. Or, more specifically, the Crown of State, looming above the other implements on the white silk cloth. To hear Leyton talk about the crown, you’d think the thing had been sent by Eidon himself, when it was clearly just an ostentatious monstrosity designed by men to impress other men. Its heavy gold base and transverse arches were cluttered with jewels of all shapes and sizes—its maker obviously ascribing to the “more is better” aesthetic. But Leyton was obsessed with it and oblivious to the way his constant talk of it only increased the paranoia of a court that had already openly suggested he’d come to steal it. She’d tried to warn him, but as always, he’d waved her off.
    Disgusted, she returned her attention to Carissa, who was now halfway down the aisle. Behind her, blue-tunicked royal guardsmen lined up in double ranks along the first quarter of the aisle in preparation for the king’s arrival, while on the narrow balconies in the side walls overlooking the crowd, trumpeters moved into position, their brass instruments flashing against all the gray. Very soon, assuming the disaster of the broken carriage had truly been absorbed and accounted for, the trumpeters would blare out a fanfare and Abramm himself would appear up there where the guardsmen were now.
    As her heart stuttered into double time again, she took herself to task. He’s got a coronation to worry about. He’s not going to be paying attention to you, so how could he possibly learn about that ridiculous dream? You’re being silly .
    Unless it wasn’t just nerves and embarrassment she was feeling. Unless the dream revealed more about her true desires than she wanted to admit, and some of this was actually—
    It was just a dream, she told herself firmly.
    So why did you dream it? Where did it come from?
    I don’t know. Maybe Leyton’s harangue from yesterday morning set it off . He’d run afoul of the rumors that she’d been one of Abramm’s paramours and had taken her to task for three long hours, undeterred by her repeated and fervent denials. Or maybe . . . maybe the rhu’ema put it in my head.
    Why would they do that?
    I don’t know. But they must’ve. Because it wasn’t me.
    You’ve been attracted to him since the day you laid on eyes on him.
    Only because he was the White Pretender. And the killer of the kraggin—
    And strong and smart and honorable, and not too bad looking, either.
    No, not bad looking at all . . . but so what? I’m not some Lovesick Sessily looking for her man. I don’t even want a man. Least of all a king. Which is precisely why this dream couldn’t have come from me. It was all out of character. Where would I even get the material for it? I’ve hardly ever been kissed, let alone—
    Plagues! Her thought veered away from yet another all-too-available memory as embarrassment choked her. Why do you keep thinking about this? It was only a dream and it means nothing. Put it out of your mind and leave it there!
    The wooden planks of the temporary box shook under her feet as Carissa climbed the outer stair and stepped into the royal box to claim the last velvetcushioned chair. The musicians reached the end of their selection, and everyone looked up at the trumpeters. But the men did not move, and after a brief hesitation the orchestra launched into yet another piece.
    Carissa sat down, and everyone else followed her lead in a great rustling of satin and silk. As the music spilled into the vast hall, the princess leaned against Maddie’s left shoulder and asked quietly, “How did you know the axle would break?”
    Maddie turned to her. “I didn’t.”
    “They’re saying you did.”
    “And I suppose they think I caused it, too.”
    “Well, it was extraordinarily prescient of you to have gotten that horse ready.”
    “After everything that’s been going wrong, it only made