Rules of Ascension: Book One of Winds of the Forelands Read Online Free PDF Page A

control, that this was one of them. But still, she’d be angry and hurt. Who could blame her?
    “Yes,” he said, trying to keep his tone light. “She’s probably there.”
    “You’ve grown quite fond of her, haven’t you?”
    Filib shrugged, looked away. “I care about her. Shouldn’t I?”
    “Of course you should. As long as you remember who she is, and who you are.”
    Filib kept his eyes trained on the window, but he nodded.
    “What you said earlier about becoming king soon is true, Filib. I expect your grandfather to abdicate within the year. It’s time you started thinking about a wife and heirs. We’ve been lucky. The king’s long life has ensured the continuation of Thorald control of the crown, despite your father’s death. It’s time now that you did your part.”
    “Has Mother put you up to this, Uncle?” Filib asked, meeting Tobbar’s gaze.
    His uncle gave a small smile. “Not directly, no. But she has mentioned her concerns to me. She fears you’ve grown too attached to the girl.”
    “Her name is Renelle.”
    Tobbar’s expression hardened. “Comments like that concern me as well. Her name isn’t important. In the larger scheme of things, neither is she. If you wish to keep her as a mistress, I’m sure that can be arranged. But I don’t want you—”
    He stopped suddenly, a stricken expression on his ruddy face. “Last night!” he breathed. “You didn’t …”
    Filib looked to the window again. “No,” he said, his voice thick. “We didn’t.”
    His uncle let out a sigh. “Good. That would have been a terrible mistake, Filib. You need to be building ties to the other houses right now. And what better way to do so than with a good match.”
    “I know all this, Uncle!” Filib said, his voice rising. “I don’t need to hear it again from you!”
    Tobbar fell silent. Filib looked away once more, but he could feel his uncle’s eyes upon him.
    “I’m not even sure the legend applies in this case,” the young lord said after a lengthy silence. “It says only that a love consummated on the Night of Two Moons in Adriel’s Turn will last forever. My …” He swallowed. “My affair with Renelle was consummated long ago. Last night probably wouldn’t have mattered.”
    “Perhaps not,” Tobbar said softly. “But you were right not to take the chance.”
    Filib nodded again. A lone gull glided past the window, its cries echoing off the castle walls. Tonight , he promised himself. I’ll be with her tonight. After I ride.
    The two of them sat without speaking for some time, Filib staring out the window, the duke, no doubt, watching him. His uncle deserved better than his tantrums. In the five years—five years!—since the death of Filib’s father, Tobbar had done everything in his power to prepare Filib for the throne. Where a lesser man might have allowed jealousy and resentment to keep him from such duties, Tobbar had embraced them. In Aneira, Caerisse, and every other kingdom in the Forelands, Filib knew, a man in Tobbar’s position would have been next in line for the throne, with his heirs inheriting the crown after him. Only in Eibithar, with its ancient Rules of Ascension, did the line of succession pass over the younger brother in favor of the eldest son of the deceased king. The rules had been established by the leaders of Eibithar’s twelve houses after the death of King Ouray the Second, the last of the early Thorald kings. By creating a peaceful process for sharing royal power among Eibithar’s five
major houses, the dukes sought to give the land some stability, while preventing one house from establishing an absolute dynasty.
    Under the Rules of Ascension, only the king’s eldest son or eldest grandson, if he had come of age, could inherit the throne. If the king had no heir, power passed to the duke of the highest-ranking house not in power. Thorald had always ranked highest of all the houses, for it was the house of Binthar, Eibithar’s first great