Bride of the Shadow King (Bride of the Shadow King, #1)

by Sylvia Mercedes

Hidden away. Not married and producing babies. Not ensuring the military support of our nearest neighbors. Useless. Disappointment. It’s all there. Hanging in the air between us. Unspoken but real.

“What have I told you about flinging yourself bodily onto the blades of our enemies?” “You’re against it, sire,” Yok speaks through gritted teeth. “Dead against it.”

But that’s not why I struggle to tear my gaze away from her. There’s something else. Something more. It’s as though, when I look at her, I can almost, almost hear a single note of sweet, sweet song. And as that note hums around her, it creates a radiant aura.

But his sister—the princess—turns and looks directly at me. At least, she seems to. I’m fairly certain she cannot see me in the dark. Her brow puckers with faint uncertainty, but her gaze never wavers.

I meet and hold her gaze. There’s courage in her eye, unexpected and defiant. She may not be a warrior; that doesn’t mean she’s weak.

She considers this. “Sounds rather like life at court.” My mouth quirks. “Certainly not. Morleth are far better mannered than any courtiers I know.”

“The equals of men, you ask?” He considers the idea, his eyes bright in the candlelight. “A peculiar question. Are we not all trolde—both men and women alike? We cannot very well exist one without the other, so how could one be deemed superior to the other?”

“How your human men may pretend they are stronger than their women. If they acknowledged what women endure simply to bring life into the world, they would necessarily have to adjust their thinking.”

Then: “Only weak men feel the need to hide such strength behind closed doors.”

Ilsevel’s dead. She was killed in the attack. Aurae too, or so we presume. Either way, the fate of the kingdom is in jeopardy, and you’re needed home at once.”