22 Nights Read Online Free PDF Page B

empress.”
    In an abrupt change of mood, Bela’s brothers laughed. Bela herself paled considerably. Her mother only blinked. “Well, that won’t do, as she already has a husband in you, General Merin.”
    “But that mockery can be undone, correct?” he asked.
    “If that is what both of you wish,” the older woman said, sounding decidedly disappointed.
    “Yes,” Merin said decisively. His answer and tone were echoed by Bela.
    “What, exactly, is involved in dissolving this unwise union?” Merin asked. Knowing the Turis, anything was possible. Where else in the known world could he have found himself tricked into marriage?
    Gayene Haythorne smiled at him, and he felt a chill. Maybe she was gentler than her children, but she was certainly not soft. “We will discuss the matter in the morning. It will be necessary for my husband and the Turi seer, Rafal, to be present when the dissolution begins.”
    “How long will it take to have this done? A full day? A few hours? We must be on our way very soon if we’re to arrive at the palace in Arthes by the first night of the Summer Festival. I did take a few days to prepare, but once I was on the road, I traveled hard, and I can only assume that Bela and her chaperones will need more time than I did on my own.”
    “I can travel as fast and efficiently as you, General,” Bela insisted.
    “I’m sure you can.” He gave her a curt and dismissive bow.
    “The dissolution process will take twenty-two days,” Gayene Haythorne said calmly.
    Impossible. “That’s more than three weeks! I cannot wait here three weeks!”
    Again there was that chilling smile. “Then you will escort a married woman to your emperor.”
     
    IT was near dawn before Bela was able to drift off to sleep, and not long after when she heard an insistent tapping at her window. She came awake and alert quickly, and was ready to reach for Kitty when she saw the face framed in the window.
    Jocylen, poor girl, had no doubt escaped from her new home and come to tell Bela that she’d been right and a wife’s duty was a painful and horrid one. Maybe she wanted to hide here.
    So why was the new bride smiling so widely?
    Bela threw open the big window, and Jocylen leaned inside. “You were so wrong!” she said with a grin.
    “I was not,” Bela responded with indignation.
    “Well, the sex did hurt at first, like you said, and for a few minutes I thought I wouldn’t like it at all. But the pain soon passed, and it was wonderful.” Jocylen rolled her blue eyes in what looked to be sheer delight. “I have never felt anything like having Rab inside me.”
    “That’s true enough,” Bela mumbled.
    “Sex is beautiful and it felt good, and it was fun .”
    “You’re jesting.”
    “Not at all.”
    Bela grimaced. Maybe Merin hadn’t done it right. Just one more failing to hold against him. “He’s back,” she said sourly.
    “Who’s back?”
    “General Merin. He arrived last night with some sort of ridiculous message from the emperor.”
    “Your first love,” Jocylen said dreamily.
    Bela glared at her friend. “The man who took my virginity. It was hardly love.” She sighed. Soon enough everyone would know, so she might as well tell her friend first. Jocylen would be so annoyed not to know all that had happened that night. “We’re married.”
    Jocylen’s face lit up. “Last night?”
    “Six years ago.”
    The bride’s pretty smile faded. “That’s not possible.”
    “Merin was not familiar with the Turi wedding ceremony, so he had no idea what we were doing.” Bela sucked in her bottom lip and then let it go. “And I had given him a little something to make him less than clear-headed, so he did whatever I asked without question.”
    Jocylen’s normally wide eyes went wider. “You tricked him? Why? And more important, why didn’t you tell me? ”
    Bela shrugged her shoulders and looked away from Jocylen’s accusing expression. “It seemed like a good idea at the