Suriax Read Online Free Page A

no
stranger to royal gatherings and responsibilities. He began his
royal service as a tutor. Maerishka spent many hours with him,
learning languages, history and all the other things a monarch
needed to know. When she took the throne, he was one of the few she
actually trusted with the truth of why she did what she did. He
helped fill her knowledge gaps and gave her invaluable advice in
those early days. It was for that reason she kept him on as her
personal advisor.
    “Excellent. I’ve been told the southern
plains have recently acquired a new ruler, King Alvexton. I should
like to meet him.” Maerishka didn’t normally trouble herself overly
much with socializing with the other rulers in the region. Three in
particular were always noticeably absent, but she didn’t have time
to worry about her half siblings now. She left them alone, and they
left her alone. Everyone was happy. Personally she believed they
were secretly relieved when she killed their father. They blamed
him for their mother’s death, but none of them ever had the guts to
do anything about it. Knowing them, they probably took it easy on
him on purpose to avoid any possible conflict of interest in doling
out his punishment. They looked down on Suriax for its lack of
punishment for murder and would never condone killing out of
revenge, but they respected Suriax’s right as a sovereign country
to have whatever laws they saw fit. As long as Suriaxians respected
Alerian laws when visiting there, the three of them didn’t say
anything. But they never came to the Summer Solstice Royal Ball.
That would mean honoring Venerith, the god whose teachings their
father followed. That was something they would never do.
    Shaking her head to clear away thoughts of
family, Maerishka turned her mind back to those who would be
attending the ball. Most notably was Brenalain, a middle aged elf
lord from the western desert settlements. He was annoying, arrogant
and always left sand wherever he went, but his land provided many
highly sought after spices. He was known to cut off trade to anyone
he didn’t like. With his lands on the border between her kingdom
and the Alerian kingdom, he tried to play them against each other,
but Aleria didn’t play. They offered him a fair deal and told him
to take it or leave it. Given the size of their kingdom, they had
the leverage to back up their proposal. Unable to afford not to do
business with them, Aleria was the only place he didn’t constantly
threaten to revoke trade. In fact, the entire episode only made him
more difficult to deal with. At the least slight, perceived or
actual, he would stop all his shipments. Inviting him to the ball
each year played to his ego and cemented their annual agreement. A
week of cleaning sand out of every rug in the palace was a price
worth paying to get their hands on those spices.
    “Schedule my meeting with Alvexton after Sir
Brenalain’s meeting at the mid-week mark. I’m meeting with
Brenalain that morning, so let’s make Alvexton’s meeting an early
supper.” She always scheduled her diplomatic meetings halfway
through the celebration week. Most of her guests left with the
tourists after the first few intensive days of the festival.
Waiting until then to meet gave everyone a chance to enjoy
themselves first and made any negotiations much easier. More
importantly, it gave her time to partake in some of the Solstice
activities as well.
    “Your Majesty, you have the opening
ceremonies and exhibition fights at the tournament,” he
reminded.
    “Is that this year? I thought the tournament
was next year. Oh, never mind. Invite him to join me in my private
balcony at the stadium.” With the tournament beginning just after
nightfall, she had plenty of time to visit with the clerics before
the opening ceremonies. Solstice was a busy time for her, but she
tried to visit the temple at least once in the early part of the
week. The latter part of the week was spent almost exclusively in
the