The Rose Throne Read Online Free PDF Page B

been stranger marriages than this one in the history of the two kingdoms.
    “Your father has a portrait of the prince, which King Haikor also sent to you,” added Duke Kellin.
    At this, Issa looked up, and King Jaap passed her a miniature portrait, small enough to hold in the palm of her hand, the decorative wooden frame around it dwarfing the subject.
    Issa saw a boy with dark hair and small features. She hoped that the grim expression was the painter’s attempt to make him look martial, for it did not seem to fit the rest of the figure at all.
    “He is every inch his father’s son,” said Duke Kellin, as if that were something that would sway Issa in the boy’s favor.
    In her own mind, Issa was glad to see that Prince Edik looked little like the descriptions of King Haikor she had heard. The king was supposed to be an enormous man, in height and girth, known in his youth for his red hair, though now it was streakedwith gray. It was said that he was capricious, ruthless, very canny, and had not an ounce of loyalty to anyone but himself. How could she marry the son of that man, however unlike him? How could her father expect that of her?
    She looked at King Jaap, but his expression told her nothing. “What else can you tell me of the prince?” Issa asked, turning to Duke Kellin.
    “He is well mannered, a little shy of court as yet, though he is still young and will grow into his place. He reads widely and has a good hand. I’m sure you will see that when you receive his letters. He has already learned the elements of combining sword-play with taweyr and practices daily with the king’s guard.”
    All these were things that Issa would expect the emissary to say about the prince and future king of Rurik. Duke Kellin could hardly say anything other than what would be complimentary, whether or not it was true.
    “When would the betrothal take place?” asked Issa.
    “On the first day of autumn in the new year,” said Kellin. “That would give enough time for the preparations to take place, and for the negotiations to be complete.”
    In little more than a year’s time, she would be betrothed to a thirteen-year-old boy? Issa could not imagine it. “And it will be in Rurik? Not in Weirland?” said Issa.
    “Yes, of course.”
    Of course, because Rurik was the more powerful kingdom and because King Haikor would not allow anything to happen to his son that was not in his direct control.
    “So I shall be coming to Rurik before the betrothal?” asked Issa.
    “You will come next summer, so that you and Prince Edik will have a few months to become acquainted with each other.”
    Though by then the arrangements for the betrothal would be done. There would be no chance for either of them to change his or her mind.
    No, this was the moment of decision. Once Issa gave Duke Kellin her agreement, there would be no turning back, no matter how she found the prince in person. If he was disgusting or mute or an idiot, he would be her husband even so. Because she was the princess, and in the end, she must do what her father asked her to do.
    This is what he meant when he had told her he had sheltered her from responsibilities. Since hermother had died when she was eleven and Issa had come into her own neweyr, she had done everything she could to fulfill the responsibilities of the queen with regard to the neweyr. But Issa had always believed she might marry for love, as her father and mother had. Her father had hinted at the changes in Weirland’s position as King Haikor grew more powerful and wealthier in his trade with the continent. He had allowed her to hear stories of the king’s spies sent to Weirland to discover its weaknesses. But he had not come out and told her that she would be sacrificed to protect Weirland. He had waited until Duke Kellin had come to bring the difficult news to her, and she had no time to prepare herself for this.
    “Will my father not come with me?” asked Issa.
    Duke Kellin’s eyes flickered