The Ice Diamond Cuff (Custodian Novel #4) Read Online Free Page B

hear all about Jocelyn's exploits in Guardian training and what
kind of covert mission Etyran and Alyssa were currently executing.
They were away somewhere by order of the king but it was all very
hush, hush and no one would tell her anything. She was eager to see
if she could wheedle it out of them somehow.
    "Oh, that reminds me," Henry said, pushing
himself back from the table. "I had a delivery this morning. Want
to see it?"
    Faedra and Faen nodded in the
affirmative.
    Henry left the room for a moment. Faedra
could hear his footsteps as he climbed the wooden staircase and
walked along the upstairs hallway above them and into his bedroom.
She could feel his energy shift to excitement as he made his way
down the stairs again. When he walked back into the kitchen, he was
holding up a brown suit-carrier by the hanger.
    "We were going to surprise you," Henry said,
hardly able to stand still he was so excited. "But I didn't think
it was fair to keep you waiting til your wedding day to see what
the father of the bride, well, one of them anyway, was going to be
wearing. The king sent some of his seamstresses around to measure
me and this is what they came up with."
    Henry pulled down the zipper of the
suit-carrier and pulled the garment from its protective
covering.
    Faedra sucked in a breath and brought her
hand to her mouth. Her wide eyes glistened as she blinked a couple
of times to push back a tear.
    "Oh, Dad," she breathed, almost
speechless.
    She sniffed, an involuntary response, as she
got up from the table and wandered over to where her dad was
holding his wedding outfit.
    "Do you like it?" he asked. "I think it makes
me look rather dapper."
    Faedra ran her fingers over the luxurious
forest green brocade, the same color as the king's velvet robes.
The rich material was accented by gold Celtic knot-work embroidery
around the cuffs and collar, which continued down the front of the
garment. The doublet was belted at the waist, the gold buckle of
which was ornately detailed with more Celtic knot-work.
    Faedra let her fingers trail over the belt
buckle. Tears continued to prick behind her eyes. Her father, the
king, had done this for her dad. No, for her. The garment her dad
held up on display was fit for a king; in fact, it was an exact
replica of the suit her real father would be wearing to her
wedding, also. She only knew that because he had invited her to his
fitting a few weeks ago to ask for her opinion. The king had then
sent fae seamstresses to her dad to recreate the same outfit. It
was a gesture of pure selflessness, a statement for her wedding day
that both of her dads were just as important as one another in her
eyes.
    "I even get to wear a sword," her dad
blurted, as though he were getting his first toy gun for
Christmas.
    Faedra turned to face Henry. His expression
fell when he saw a tear slide down his daughter's cheek. Deflated,
he whispered. "You don't like it."
    Faedra swallowed before throwing her arms
around her dad.
    Henry hugged his daughter with his free arm
and patted her gently on the back. "There, there. Don't worry,
darling. I'm sure I can come up with something else to wear," he
said.
    Faedra pulled away and looked into her dad's
disappointed eyes. "These aren't tears of sadness, Dad. They're
tears of happiness. You'll see why on the day. I love it! It's
gorgeous. You are going to look absolutely out of this
world...literally."
    Henry's face lit up at Faedra's words.
"Phew," he said. "I was beginning to think I might look a bit odd
in a tux."
    "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Dad. You
should see what some of the other realms wear...or don't, as the
case may be." Faedra chuckled, thinking back to one of her lessons
on the various fashions throughout the realms. That was an
eye-opener. But then, she guessed if you were made of ice or water,
the need for clothing was kind of irrelevant. She was quite
intrigued to see how they were going to 'dress' for her wedding.
The ambassador for Alsius certainly