The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) Read Online Free PDF Page A

someone needs to be standing up for your kids. That's going to take more than I can do at my current rank." The eye contact had switched back to Alyssa almost instantly. Even Collette had paid more attention to him than that. The other woman still was, he noticed.
    She studied him closely.
    The lady wasn't old, perhaps twenty or so? It was hard to tell, because she looked younger than that, but was decently tall, which meant royal. They always aged slower than everyone else. Well, not slower than he would, but most girls in Two Bends that looked like her would be about sixteen, or maybe just a bit older. It made it hard to tell.
    She broke eye contact with him and looked back a few seconds later, then batted her eyelashes, just a little, in case he didn't get the idea she was flirting with him.
    "Well, hello !" Her words were pleasant, almost sparkling her white dress tightening across the front as she pushed her chest out slightly in his direction. It wasn't a large movement, but it was pretty clear that she didn't find him too hideous to talk to.
    He smiled and gave a decently low bow. It was kind of a fallback move. When in doubt bend low enough that no one would be insulted.
    "Hello. Sorry I haven't introduced myself. Timon Baker." He left off the titles because it always sounded pretentious when he tried to use them. Worse, you either found yourself facing a person of lower rank, who would think you were rubbing it in half the time, or of higher rank, who thought you wanted to climb above your position. That's what it always felt like to him anyway.
    "Maria Ward. Nice to meet you Timon. Would you like a seat? There's room over here, by me." She patted the cushion next to her gently. There was barely room on that side of her, which meant it was an invitation to touch her, if she didn't intend to scoot to the other side, which was well and truly open.
    He spread his hands.
    "I'd love to, of course. Unfortunately, I promised to get back as soon as possible. Perhaps we could meet up and talk later? If you aren't busy of course. I intend to see if I can stay here for a few nights while setting up some business." He didn't explain what or why, but the woman smiled at him, which moved from a pretty grin to a large wolfish thing in just a few seconds.
    "Oh, I'd love to! I'm staying here as well, Collette is my sister. Alyssa is a very good friend of mine too. I'm sure we could find something to entertain ourselves, if we give it some thought."
    That got an odd reaction from at least one person in the room. Sara cleared her throat and looked at Maria, clearly scandalized.
    "Excuse me, Countess Ward, but he's twelve . Or... not even that yet." She glanced at him finally as if looking for confirmation.
    "At midnight tonight." He added, trying to be helpful. Instead of crestfallen, Maria, who it seemed was a Countess just shrugged.
    "Fine then, no sex. We can hire a musician in or perhaps some players as a distraction? Or we could talk about the new vacations that Princess Karina was telling me about a few days ago. Could you imagine seeing other lands? I hear Soam is incredibly exotic, and warm all the time, though the insects can eat you alive. Afrak is like a garden and the men are both rare and timid like rabbits and Austra has their strange technology and thinking machines. I can't wait to talk to one. Do you think one of those could be arranged? I wonder what will be available first?" She actually seemed like she didn't know that he was involved in all of it, but that could just be good acting.
    He tilted his head at her and smiled a little, still standing.
    "Which would you like first? For a mere two hundred gold I'll set you up with a vacation the likes of which no one has ever seen. Less than that if you can find at least six others to travel with you and if you want to put together a larger group the cost will go down for each. We have invitations for most of those places already, plus Vagus. In most places you'd probably