The Seven Towers Read Online Free PDF

get out of the way.”
    “I’m afraid that isn’t quite enough, my, ah, lady,” the guard said, even more apologetically than before. “You’ll have to give it to me.”
    “You want it, come take it, squirrel brain.”
    “That’s ridiculous!” Eltiron said to the guard. “Vandaris is my father’s sister ; do you think she’s going to murder me?”
    “No, Your Highness,” the guard said, not moving, “but I have orders.”
    “Oh, go lose yourself,” Vandaris said in disgust.
    “Orders are orders.”
    “Look, mush mind, just go back to your post, and if anyone asks, tell ’em the orders were changed.”
    “Who’s going to change them?” the guard demanded.
    “I am,” Vandaris said cheerfully. “And before you tell me I can’t, you’d better think a little about whom you’re talking to. Blood and fire, but it’s a poor state of affairs when two members of the royal family have to persuade some guard that it’s all right for them to talk to each other.” She pushed the dumbfounded guard aside and strode through the doorway.
    With a small sigh of relief, Eltiron closed the door on the guard’s belated protests and turned. Vandaris was standing in the center of the room, watching him. Eltiron cleared his throat. “It’s good to see you again.”
    “No need to sound so apologetic,” Vandaris said. “What’s it been, three years? No, more like five; you weren’t here last time I was in Sevairn.” She eyed him critically. “You’ve gotten taller. And I thought you’d finished growing when you were fifteen!”
    “Not quite,” Eltiron said with a grin. “See what you miss when you’re gone so long?”
    Vandaris shook her head. “You’ve grown up better-looking than I expected, too, and you seem to have some sense. More than Marreth, I think, unless he’s changed a lot since the last time I was here.”
    “He hasn’t,” Eltiron said gloomily. He had briefly forgotten his uncomfortable situation, but mention of his father brought it back with a rush. Vandaris gave him a sharp look.
    “I thought you looked a bit off temper,” she said. She glanced around the room again, then walked unerringly to the most comfortable chair in it. She dropped her cloak carelessly across it, seated herself, and leaned back, stretching her long legs out in front of her. “Want to tell me, or would you rather talk about something else?”
    Eltiron hesitated, then started talking. He told Vandaris everything that had happened at the non-Council meeting, ending with “And even if I could back out now, it would probably cause a war.”
    “That,” said Vandaris, “is Marreth’s problem. There’s no reason why you should get married just to keep him out of trouble. What gave Marreth this idiotic idea in the first place?”
    “I think Terrel did. He can talk Father into anything, and it would be like him.”
    “Who’s Terrel?”
    Eltiron stared. “Don’t you know?”
    “Look, fur brain, if I knew, would I ask?”
    “You might,” Eltiron said with a brief grin. “I was just surprised. Whenever you come home, I forget you’ve ever been away. Terrel Lassond has only been Father’s Chief Adviser for the last six months, but it seems as if he’s been around a lot longer.”
    “Chief Adviser? What happened to Trevannon?”
    Eltiron winced. “Six months ago he was convicted of treason and exiled. It doesn’t make any sense, but Father won’t listen to anything I say; I can’t even mention Jermain’s name without getting into trouble.”
    “Really.” Vandaris looked thoughtful. “I think I’m going to be very glad I came to see you before I went to Marreth. If I’m going to get into trouble, I like to see it coming. What else has changed since I was here last?”
    “Lord Danivor was killed in a duel about a year ago,” Eltiron said, trying to remember who had been at court three years before. “Lady Rivalna was caught with a Navren stable boy last summer; the boy was hanged for a spy and