The Silent Enemy Read Online Free Page A

returned. “It sounds like a lovely place, Poitain. Perhaps we could visit it? I hear that the olive groves are beautiful . . .”
    “We shall see what can be done.” He pulled her toward him again. However, Telaria did not allow the second kiss to last very long.
    “I must be on my way! Two of the other ladies are ill, and so the queen needs my assistance more than ever! After what she’s done, I can hardly be lax now!”
    Aware of how Zenobia had influenced Conan in the matter of the two, Nermesa readily agreed. “I leave at first light tomorrow. The road is a well-traveled one, so even though I’ll be riding alone, I likely won’t be by myself most of the time.”
    “Must it really be you? Couldn’t someone else deliver the documents?”
    “If the king and General Pallantides think it necessary to have an officer of the Black Dragons carry them, then I’m honored to be the one chosen.”
    She considered this before stating, “There can only be one reason for adding this last mission, Nermesa. I think that they must be grooming you. They must be considering you for some other position, perhaps on the general’s staff .”
    Nermesa had not thought about that. Other than actually replacing the commander of the Black Dragons himself, a place on his personal staff was the most prestigious position a Black Dragon could achieve. The officers on the staff were privy to secrets and details known otherwise only to the king, Pallantides, and the chancellor. They were in positions of trust and authority that made them among the most powerful men in all the realm.
    The general’s staff . Could it be? Surely not . . . and yet . . .
    “We’re only guessing, and that’s risky,” he finally replied. Still, Nermesa could not hold back a slight smile at the notion. “But it is something to think about.”
    Telaria kissed him soundly on the cheek. “I must go now. Promise me that you won’t let any of those sun-bronzed Poitainian wenches turn your head.”
    “Never.”
    She started off, then suddenly halted again. The change in her expression immediately told Nermesa that the subject upon which the lady-in-waiting was about to speak was not one in which he would find pleasure.
    “I talked to Orena again.”
    His guard instantly went up. “And?”
    “I would like her to be at the wedding, Nermesa.” Telaria bit her lip.
    “Would she actually come?”
    “I—I think so. So does Morannus. She—she’s a proud woman. But she’s changed. The inroads we started to make before the discovery of Antonus’s treachery were still there, after all.”
    He was not quite moved. “And does Orena truly understand also that I fought to enable her to keep the other half of the baron’s properties, not to mention retaining Lenaro’s holdings? Aquilonian law said otherwise.”
    Telaria drew herself up, momentarily looking very much like a dark-haired version of her sibling. “Yes . . . as a matter of fact, she does.”
    Her response made him exhale. Nodding, Nermesa said, “If it can be so, then let it be so. Nothing would make me happier than to see her there, if only for your sake. She’s done more harm to you than to me, remember.”
    “And I’ve forgiven her for it.” Once more, she was the soft, warm Telaria. Her smile illuminated the marble hall more than could all the oil lamps lining the walls combined. “Thank you, Nermesa. Thank you . . .”
    And with that, she hurried down the hall.
    Nermesa drank in the sight of Telaria for as long as possible, then turned off in the direction of the Black Dragons’ quarters. He wanted to be ready to leave the first moment possible. The sooner that could be, the sooner Nermesa could return home.
    Three weeks, he estimated. Three weeks at most, and he would be back in Tarantia. After everything else that had happened, not long at all.
    Not long at all . . .
     
HE RECEIVED THE leather pouch from Publius in the corridor just beyond the royal stables. The chancellor, a rotund,