The Rose Throne Read Online Free PDF Page A

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    Ailsbet mounted the horse and rode it back to Baron Bartel’s estate. She returned to her bedroom, where she was lectured by Queen Aske about her responsibilities as a princess, and how she had worried everyone by leaving without a word. On a horse, the queen added, which might have thrown her and left her lying dead in a ditch somewhere in the vast countryside.
    Ailsbet listened and said nothing, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. The queen might be stupid not to see the truth, but some part of her must know that there was something truly wrong with Ailsbet, even if she did not name it. For once in her life, Ailsbet was glad that her mother was not given to seeking the truth or to speaking it aloud.
    At last, the queen left and Ailsbet turned to her flute for solace. But even music did not soothe her now. It could not change the truth of what she was, and the danger that would lurk at every turn, as long as she lived.

C HAPTER T HREE
Issa
    P RINCESS M ARLISSA OF W EIRLAND stood on the ramparts above the castle at noon, looking out on the craggy hills that surrounded her in all directions. Summer was waning, and soon Issa would use her part of the neweyr to bank the growth and fertility of the season, so that next year would be even more abundant than this one. But now, the neweyr of summer and life was at its height, and there was nothing in Issa’s mind as beautiful as the land. She could feel the harvest plants growing fat and heavy, the warmth of the air settling deep into the black soil. It was as delicious to her asany taste on her tongue, as sweet as any imagined kiss.
    “Issa, there is an emissary come from Rurik, waiting to speak to you in the Throne Room,” said her father, King Jaap, coming up behind her.
    “I am sure he would rather speak to you than me, Father,” said Issa. Since her mother’s death, she had taken the queen’s place in guarding the neweyr. But she had not yet decided if she would encourage the distant cousin who was her father’s heir to propose marriage to her. She had once considered marrying Lord Umber, whose lands were near the land bridge, but he had disappeared only a few weeks ago and was suspected of going to Rurik to give information to King Haikor. Whether he expected coins or new lands or a title for this betrayal, no one knew.
    “His name is Duke Kellin of Falcorn. He is one of King Haikor’s court favorites. He has come to offer a betrothal.”
    “A betrothal?” said Issa. Well, this would be interesting, at least. A duke of Rurik had never been to the kingdom before. In fact, Issa could not remember any official emissary ever coming from Rurik, only spies. She might have fun with this.
    Issa climbed down and made her way to the Throne Room in the other wing of the castle. Beforeshe entered, her father touched her arm and she turned back to him.
    “I have sheltered you,” the king said. “Kept you from your responsibilities as princess.”
    “I have been guiding the neweyr in my mother’s place since I was eleven years old,” Issa protested. “How is that sheltering me from my responsibilities?”
    “Not the responsibilities of the neweyr, but the responsibilities of the throne. You are a princess, Issa, and it is time that you were used as one.”
    Issa still did not understand what her father meant, but she puzzled over it as he led her into the Throne Room. A man stood when they entered. He was tall, with broad shoulders and long legs. He was dressed in a long, thick, wool cloak that was adorned with pearls along the edge, and he seemed utterly untouched by the wear of the weeks of travel he would have endured on the journey here. It made Issa more conscious of her own worn tweed gown, the edges of her sleeves dirty from her work in the garden early that morning, the skirt with a tear to one side.
    Issa glanced back up and saw Duke Kellin observing her every movement. There was a kind of arrogance in the set of his mouth and in the pointof his chin. He