The Rose Throne Read Online Free PDF

seemed to Issa everything that she would have expected from a nobleman of King Haikor’s court. He was younger than she had expected, but perhaps King Haikor had run out of older, more experienced men. It was said that his favorites died with a frightening regularity.
    “King Jaap,” said Kellin with a formal bow. Then he turned to her. “Princess Marlissa.” He bowed again, and held out his hand.
    Issa gave him her own hand. When he kissed it, the sensation was strangely cold. Did he think she would marry him because he was handsome and powerful in King Haikor’s court?
    “I come to you with gifts from King Haikor.” The duke offered Issa a small velvet bag. “To match the shine of your eyes,” he added.
    Inside the bag was an emerald the size of a hummingbird’s egg. Issa had never seen anything so valuable. Despite herself, she was impressed with the gift. King Haikor must truly value Duke Kellin, if he was willing to send such a gift to the woman Kellin hoped to marry.
    Issa could have used her neweyr to reach inside the faint veins of life inside of the emerald and expand the flaws that lay deep within. It would crumble to dust in her hands if she wished it. But she resisted theimpulse and instead glanced at her father to see if she should accept it.
    King Jaap nodded, so Issa held the emerald in the palm of her hand, moving it this way and that to see the facets shimmer. It was beautiful indeed, and it was worth half the castle, she had no doubt. Kellin was handsome, to be sure, but she did not know if she liked the brooding look of his.
    “And this,” Kellin said, “to bring you the sweetest smell of summer even in the dark of winter.” He handed her a tiny box, which, when opened, let out a strong scent of lavender. It was not soap, but a candle.
    A gift from a man who knew nothing of the neweyr, she thought. If she wished to have the scent of any summer flower in winter, she could bring it up from the banked neweyr in the earth herself. She set the candle gently on the table.
    “Finally, a gift from Prince Edik himself,” said Duke Kellin, holding out a tiny metal figure.
    From Prince Edik? Issa took the gift at her father’s nod and held it up to the light. It was a female figure, dressed in a simple shift, holding a peace lantern. The details were exquisite.
    “I thank you,” said Issa politely. “I shall keep these gifts close to my heart.” Though she did notunderstand why Duke Kellin had brought a gift from the king, as well as the young prince. Why would Kellin not bring something from his own estate, if he wished to offer her a personal touch?
    “Perhaps you should begin at the beginning, Duke Kellin,” King Jaap suggested. He took this all more seriously than Issa did, it seemed. “The princess would like to tend to all of the details of the betrothal.”
    Duke Kellin glanced at Issa. “Of course,” he said. “I have come to offer a betrothal between you and young Prince Edik of Rurik, Your Highness.”
    And suddenly, Issa was no longer amused or puzzled. A betrothal with Prince Edik of Rurik? Her father might have warned her. She glanced at him and saw a hint of apology in his eyes. But it was her fault, for not thinking more carefully. Her father had been all seriousness. This was not a betrothal she could simply refuse out of hand. She dared not insult King Haikor, who had threatened before this to come across the land bridge and, with his superior army and taweyr, take Weirland for himself.
    “Prince Edik is a child,” Issa said, struggling to keep her voice calm. She knew that much of the ruling family of Rurik.
    “He is twelve years old and will soon be thirteen,” Duke Kellin answered. “He has already begun toshow the wealth of taweyr that is his inheritance as the son of King Haikor, and his father believes that he is ready to be betrothed. Of course, the wedding will not take place until he is of age, at eighteen.”
    “Of course,” echoed Issa. Though there had