Last Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

face pained him just as much.  It took all his effort not to wrap her up in a hug to comfort her.  She was queen.  And he was not her father.
    “Queen Elissa,” Marik said softly.  “It will be okay…”
    “I miss him.”
    Marik smiled at the memory of her father.  He had been a great king.  Sometimes a flawed man, but he served the kingdom as well as any man could.  “Your father was indeed a great man.  We all miss him, but it is time to move on.  You have been granted a gift of this kingdom, and even though you don’t know it yet, you will become a great queen.  Your father provided you a great example of how to treat his people and lead this kingdom.  Both Lord Martin and Lord Kirwal are fine men and they will help you in every way.”
    “I didn’t mean my father,” Elissa said, the tears now drifting down her cheek.
    “Oh,” Marik said.  “I miss him, too.”
    “You saw him off, did he really say he wasn’t coming back?”
    Marik bowed his head, wondering how far he should carry the ruse.  Or was it really an outright lie?  “He knew the dangers of staying here,” Marik said carefully.  “Having just killed Neffenmark, even as evil as he was, he was still the king.  The Royal Guard would have strung him up and quartered him at first sight.  Many knights would have, too.  No one liked Neffenmark or the fact that he was king.  But he was still king, and the kingdom comes first.”
    “But he can come back, now! The knights are no more.  The Royal Guard are no more.  There is no reason for him to fear!”
    Marik didn’t know how to respond.  He didn’t know how he could tell her that the best thing for her was that Conner was not here.  She needed to be queen and learn how to rule without the distraction of someone like Conner.  A good friend, yes.  But still a distraction.  He couldn’t say the words, for he knew that Queen Elissa would have to figure it out on her own.
    “He knows he can’t come back.  Not right now,” Marik said.
    Elissa sniffled loudly and rubbed the tears from her cheek. “Where is he now?”
    “West,” Marik replied.
    “He always wanted to go to the empire.  Is he alone?”
    “He has spent much of his life alone, I am sure he will be fine.  He is safer where he is now than if he were here.  Neffenmark’s men are still around and they would like nothing more than to see Conner dead.  But enough about that!  There is the treaty that needs to be discussed.”
    Elissa glanced around the quiet room and asked again, “Should we not have the lords here?”
    Marik took a seat on a nearby chair.  “Soon.  But not now.  There is much to discuss first.  Mostly because the treaty involves you most of all.”
    “Oh?”
    Marik cleared his throat.  “Thell, like us, wishes peace.  The squabbles that we’ve had over the years have been a true thorn in our sides.  They have kept us from any sort of relationship whether it is trade or friendship.”
    Marik had paused to make sure that Elissa was following his words.  After a moment, Elissa said, “Go on.”
    “They have raided our border villages, and we have done the same to them.”
    Elissa’s eyes widened at that.  She pursed her lips, but kept silent.
    “They knew they could never match us on the battlefield.”
    “Then why did they attack us?”
    “Truthfully, we attacked them.  We gathered an army and marched north to their kingdom.  They were, however, waiting for us in ambush.  The leader of their army, Prince Toknon, the king’s eldest son, knew where we would be and when.”
    “Neffenmark?”
    Marik nodded his head.  “He knew your father well.  He knew how to manipulate and how he would react.  The invasion of Thell was something that Neffenmark plotted from the beginning.”
    “He plotted with Thell?  I thought my father was making peace with King Lorraine?  That’s what Arpwin had told me.”
    “Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.  Prince Toknon was in league