Unlocking Void (Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

has been, but I have no idea what ails her. She seems to recover after she has been awake a few hours.” He politely nodded to a passing noble. “I never had tact for sorting out illnesses.” He looked over his shoulder subconsciously, looking for Nolen. Kilkiny Palace made him uneasy, especially with Nolen on the loose. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, calming his racing heart.
    “Looking for Balien? He traveled to the east coast with General Calsifer. They have half the army to liberate the coast from Shalabane settlers.”
    “Was that your suggestion or Calsifer’s?”
    She looked up with a blank expression. “Mine.” Robyn told Gabriel the story of Calsifer’s wife who had been taken by Shalabane pirates and never found. They lapsed into silence, listening to the swish of her skirts and the tap of his heels.
    Aisling waited for them behind the throne, and she met Gabriel with a warm embrace and a quiet chiding before they took their places. Aisling sat to the right of the throne, Gabriel to the left. He held court with her a few times, always on the left of the throne. Every time sent him back to that day when Nolen forced him to lay beside it like an animal to demonstrate Nolen’s power. He stared at the spot and took two silent steps up to it. With a wave from Robyn, guards swung the doors open and admitted the Arconians. A herald announced Prince Virgil of Arconia.
    Gabriel remembered the first time a troupe of Arconians glided into the throne room. For a moment he lapsed back to the face of Axa, but quickly shook himself free and watched the procession. This time, thirteen soldiers marched in. Twelve carried large chests supported with shoulder polls, flanking a tawny-haired man in the center. They all wore black and moved soundlessly. Their boots were of wrapped canvas rather than leather or wood, and each had an empty sheath on their hip.
    At an unseen command, the twelve men stopped and simultaneously set their burdens down with practiced accuracy. The man in the center took four more steps and halted, bowing his head and falling to a knee. Silence fell.
    “Rise, Prince Virgil,” Robyn said with a tone of authority engrained into her from her time in the palace as a child.
    The tawny-haired man rose smoothly and took a wide leg stance, clasping his arms behind him in a soldier’s posture. He was of average height but built like a tree with a broad chest, large legs and arms, and a thick neck. In his stance it looked like he might rip his uniform across the chest if he inhaled too deeply. “Head Mage, Your Grace, it is a great honor to be admitted into your presence.” His accent was slight, alighting softly on the vowels like Mikelle did. “It was with immeasurable sadness my mother Queen Cathlyn returned to inform us of her damage done to you and your people. My father, brother, and I were grievously wounded by her actions, but she said if we could make retribution, you would reconsider the peace treaty and return your troops to our soil. I come to make that retribution if you would have it.”
    He opened a wide palm and extended an arm. The soldiers behind him moved as one and opened the chests. From within sparkled uncut gems, a set of silver-and-gold dining ware from another, cut gems, jewelry, pearls of every color, gilded belts and slippers, vases, ceramic jugs of wine, and even bolts of brocade and silk.
    “I humbly give you these men as well. They are from my personal guard, and I trust each man with my life. I know they will devote their lives to your safety. Lastly, I give you myself.”
    Gabriel could not help but notice the way Robyn tried to hide the grin that tremored her cheeks.
    “What will I do with a Prince?” she asked.
    “Make me your cupbearer, make me your poison taster, send me to fight your battles, or if you would have my head, send me to the headsman. But if it would please you, take me as your husband.”
    Gabriel watched calculatingly. Virgil was the second