Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs, Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page A

bristle turned into a rising of the hairs at the back of her neck. “And you have an appointment with Prince Malik at the close of tea.”
    “I will take care not to be late, then.” Aniri grasped her sister’s cold hand between the two of hers. She turned her back on the Queen, fully aware of the held breaths that followed, and gently guided her sister from the table. Her husband trailed behind, then quickly caught Seledri’s other arm.
    When they had rounded the corner of the table, Seledri whispered to her, “I see you haven’t changed in my absence, little sister.”
    Aniri smiled. “I do my best.”
    Seledri smiled in return and let Aniri and her husband lead her from the Grand Chamber. Aniri didn’t dare glance back to Devesh, to see his reaction to her little scene, but he surely heard the Queen’s unsubtle announcement that she had an appointment with the barbarian prince. She only hoped he wouldn’t leap to conclusions about a decision she hadn’t even made herself.

    Seledri’s color was starting to come back.
    Aniri had loosened the tightly-bound Samirian-style corset, wondering how her sister could breathe at all when so tightly wrapped, as if she were a package bound for rough passages over the sea from Samir. Aniri had fed Seledri some crackers Priya had brought, but now her sister lay with her eyes closed on Aniri’s bed. Her beauty was more deathly than angelic, her skin having paled against the black embroidered silk, like it was funeral clothing. Aniri had banished Seledri’s husband, mostly because she wanted to talk to her sister privately, although guilt wormed its way into her chest with the pained look on his face as she shoved him out the door.
    “He’s a good man, you know,” Seledri said, her eyes still closed, a damp cloth resting on her forehead. “He’ll worry about me. He’s no doubt sitting outside the door right now.”
    “He’ll survive.” Aniri gently unbuckled her sister’s silk slippers and worked them from her slender feet, one at a time. “I’m more concerned about you. Was the journey from Samir rough? Or is there more to it? Do I need to summon the doctor?”
    “The doctor will only find out what I already know,” Seledri said. “I’m with child, Aniri.”
    Aniri’s fingers froze. “You’re what?”
    “You do understand how that works, don’t you? First you get married, then—”
    Aniri smacked her sister’s arm with the feather-light slipper, and Seledri laughed in a way that lifted Aniri’s heart. She swept her dress to the side so she could fold her legs underneath and sit closer to Seledri. They hadn’t been alone like this, the two of them, since Seledri had married and left Dharia.
    “I understood the mechanics before you,” Aniri said with derision.
    “Oh, I doubt that.”
    Aniri arched her eyebrow. “We clearly need to discuss
that
further.” She laid her hand softly on her sister’s arm. “But first I want to hear about this baby of yours.” Somehow Seledri’s pregnancy hit her more forcefully than Nahali’s baby-to-be. “Are you... are you happy about it?”
    Seledri pulled the cloth from her forehead and eased up to sitting. Suddenly Aniri could see it: the achiness with which she moved, the small bump where her sister’s stomach had always been flat, the care she took to sit just right on Aniri’s bed.
    “I have a wonderful husband, an heir on the way, and a Queendom which will one day be mine.” Seledri drew in a deep breath. “It is not a bad life.”
    Aniri let her shoulders relax. “Your husband must be beside himself with happiness.”
    “He does not know.” At Aniri’s questioning look, Seledri elaborated, “My handsome Samirian prince has wished for a baby from the moment we were wed. I’ll tell him soon. I’m waiting until I can be as filled with joy as he would want.”
    Aniri’s heart clenched, and tears threatened to spring out. “Oh, Seledri.”
    “Hey, I’m the one who is supposed to be weepy, not