The Lotus Ascension Read Online Free

well-being. “Thank you so much for
letting me have the use of your city house for this.
My parents would not let me attend even the first hour of a party anywhere
besides your house or the King's, and … I could not give my brother the sort of
party a sailor wants if I had had to hold it in my personal apartments.” She
smiled then. “And when you do not even believe me that he is alive—”
      Suddenly the sound of
the harbor horn echoed through the city, and Sillara rose to her feet. Konas
joined her, and they both darted to the window. The voices and cries that
spread through the city in waves soon reached their ears.
    “ Orien returns!”
    Sillara turned
her shining eyes on Konas. Orien was Soren's captain, and his return meant the
return of his men.
    “ The Scourge is defeated!”
    Sillara and
Konas exchanged glances. The Scourge was the most vicious pirate in all the
Meshkenet Sea, and it was supposed to have been in battle with him that Soren's
ship had sunk.
    “ It appears you were right, Your Grace.”
    Sillara laughed
and threw her arms around Konas in her joy. Then she turned and fairly ran through
the halls to her father's receiving chamber. There she saw Kamen and Ajalira
holding each other, and she ran to them.
    “ Sillara!” Her father pulled her into their embrace, and Sillara could not
help laughing. She was as joyous as they were, but their sudden change from
such sorrow to this unlooked-for delight had left her parents half-dazed.
    “ Please, may I go to the docks?” asked Sillara. She disengaged from
their arms and made a low curtsey in the Ausir fashion. “I want to meet my
brother.”
    “ But, daughter, we cannot.” Ajalira's eyes were more
green than blue, and Sillara recognized the unmistakable sign of
happiness. “We must wait here for Soren to come home.”
    Sillara knew
what her mother meant. As nobles, it would hardly be appropriate for their
family to trek down to the docks. The stir it would cause would be
disproportionate for what was supposed to be the expected return of but one
ship in the King's navy. The fact that this ship was returning after having
been thought lost would not make any difference.
    And still
Sillara did not care. She dropped to her knees, and whether by Ausir or Sunjaa
standards it was a shocking action. “Please.”
    “ There was a time I would've taken a horse to the docks myself,” said
Kamen, reaching down to pull Sillara to her feet. “But this isn't the time.
This is Orien's victory, his ship, and if we, first family of Arinport outside
the King's own, show up at the docks then we will be upstaging him, stealing
his glory.”
    Sillara did not
take her father's hand and remained on her knees. “I will go quietly,
privately. Just, please, let me go.”
    “ You cannot go quietly,” said Ajalira. “You are the Queen of the
Ausir.”
    “ That is why you must not do anything,” said Kamen.
    Sillara heard
Konas's breathing in the doorway, but she did not bother to turn to him. He
would, doubtless, agree with Kamen. “I just want to see my brother,” she said.
“It has been two years since I have seen his eyes.” She pressed her forehead to
the cool marble of the floor. “I shall not move until you give me leave to go.”
    Konas was at
her side immediately, and he was prostrate on the floor with her. Sillara knew
that because she was, having been betrothed to Konas's brother on the day of
her birth, the Queen of the Ausir, he would not elevate himself above her.
    “ She is your daughter,” said Kamen, and Sillara, though her
eyes were fixed on the floor, heard her mother's low laugh. “I suppose you may
go, but you shall not go alone. We will all have to go. Konas and I can take to
horse, and you may ride in your mother's litter.”
    Sillara rose,
and Konas followed. “Thank you!”
    Within five
minutes' time, Sillara was standing beside her mother's litter. Kamen and Konas
were standing not a dozen paces away, and their horses were being