The Black King (Book 7) Read Online Free PDF

remember sending that message. She didn’t remember a lot of things. Islanders sometimes had to introduce themselves to her more than once, and then, when they left, they would remark on how poor her memory had become.
    He had heard from some of the servants say that she had suffered severe headaches just before he had arrived, and that she had actually been in bed unconscious for several days. Her Healers had not been able to help her, and some thought it a magickal attack.
    When she awakened, Arianna blamed Seger saying that Seger had tried to kill her. Seger had disappeared from the palace, but Arianna had not tried to find her. His niece was a strange mixture of ruthlessness and carelessness that he didn’t pretend to understand.
    “Well,” she said after a moment. “Find Lyndred. She’s not used to Jahn. She could have gotten herself into trouble.”
    Knowing his daughter, that was too accurate for comfort. He stood. He wouldn’t bring Lyndred to Arianna as he had been commanded, but he would make certain his daughter was all right.
    He had almost made it to the door when Arianna said, “How long do you plan to stay on Blue Isle, Bridge? Until I die and you can make your daughter Black Queen?”
    That had been awfully close to the original plan, until he had arrived and realized that his young daughter was no match for Arianna. So Bridge didn’t answer her, nor did he turn so that she could see the truth in his face. Instead he opened the door and left.
    Arianna’s suite of rooms was on the farthest wing. For some reason, she had moved from the rooms she had occupied since she was a child to ones higher up and more protected. She had adopted other new habits as well, including taking most of her meals in her chambers alone or with her family.
    He found the meals both inconvenient and intriguing. Inconvenient because he had to climb six flights of stairs, and intriguing because he never knew how Arianna was going to act.
    He took the stairs down now, feeling the stone walls close in on him as he entered the older parts of the palace. He reached the second floor and walked past portraits of round, blond people who had apparently ruled the Isle since time immemorial. The portraits were done in different styles, but the faces all looked alike until he came to Jewel’s. His sister’s portrait, done when she was not much older than Lyndred, looked startling like his daughter’s face. Arianna had blue eyes, and too much roundness in her cheeks to look like her mother.
    Arianna had given Lyndred her old rooms on the second floor. They had a lovely sitting area in the front, and a bedroom in the back, all of which overlooked the garden. Not that the garden mattered much now. The winter had set in and everything was gray and bleak.
    He paused in front of his daughter’s door, then knocked. It took a long time before Lyndred pulled it open.
    She looked drawn and tired, with circles beneath her eyes the size of fists. He didn’t remember the last time she had eaten well.
    “Are you all right?” he asked, his careful planned speech abandoned at the sight of her.
    She nodded.
    “You don’t look all right,” he said. “What’s going on?”
    She took his arm and pulled him inside, closing the door behind them. The room was too hot; the fire that burned in the grate seemed unnecessary. The windows were closed and shuttered, making everything dark.
    “Have you even eaten today?” he asked.
    She shrugged, which was apparently a no. Her clothing was scattered about the chamber. A servant hadn’t been in these rooms for a long time.
    “What’s going on?” he asked again.
    “You’re not going to tell her anything, are you?” Lyndred asked.
    “You mean Arianna? Why should I?”
    “I thought you came here because she asked you to.”
    “She did, but I really came because I’m worried about you.”
    Lyndred put a hand on his arm. “Let’s go home, Daddy. Please. Let’s get out of here.”
    There was a