Free Arcane Enchantment (Unbreakable Force Book 2) by Kara Jaynes

irritating men out of my mind, thinking of last night.
    King Matias had asked me a lot of questions after healing me. He seemed interested in the nomad way of life and was appropriately disgusted when I talked to him about slavery in the north.
    “What brings you to Sen Altare, Adaryn?” Matias had asked. I’d hesitated. I didn’t want to give away our quest. The sky jewel could very well be something that the king would decide he wanted for himself. Instead, I told him about my escape from slavery and how we wanted to start a new life for ourselves away from Ruis. It seemed plausible enough and it wasn’t a lie at any rate, just not the complete truth. Matias hadn’t questioned it.
    As dawn began to creep over the horizon, Matias bid me farewell, thanked me again for intervening during the ambush, and reminded me that I was to come see him again.
    Getting back to the inn I had thought Aaric would be worried about me. Only he hadn’t come home himself. I grinned. With his nose in a book, the world could come crashing down around Aaric’s head and the man wouldn’t even notice.
    I fell asleep, exhausted by the night’s events. When I woke it was well past noon. I left my room and headed over to Aaric’s, knocking lightly on the door. No one answered. I pushed the door open and looked in, only to see it was empty.
    My brow creased in puzzlement. I had expected to find Aaric there, either sleeping or reading a book. I headed downstairs. The common room was empty save for a maid mopping the floor. My frown deepened. I couldn’t guess where they had gone. Maybe to Luna’s?
    I thought of Grace, and my frown turned into a scowl. If I found Aaric there I’d skin them both alive. I started for the front door when a clattering sound caught my ears. It was coming from the stable yard. Curious, I went out to look and found Aaric and Bran, both stripped to the waist. They each held practice swords. Neither noticed me, so I crouched by the wall, not wanting to interrupt them.
    Bran barked some instructions to Aaric, and the Oppressor—reformed Oppressor, I reminded myself—widened his stance and lunged at Bran with renewed vigor.
    Bran fought off his attacks with almost laughable ease; there was no question as to who was the better swordsman here. A flick of Bran’s wrist sent Aaric’s practice sword flying, landing a couple of feet from me.
    Aaric turned to retrieve it and saw me. His ears reddened as he bent over to pick it up. “I didn’t realize you were watching,” he said awkwardly.
    I shrugged. “You’re fine. Sword practice is a good idea.”
    “That’s what I told him,” Bran said. “Especially here.”
    “Sen Altare?” I asked, puzzled. “What do you mean?” Looking at Aaric, I saw he was just as confused.
    Bran arched an eyebrow at the two of us. “Maybe if you spent more time in the city you would see, but as I have said before, some of the people are getting pretty tired of the king’s high taxes and the endless harassment of brigands just outside. There was a riot outside of the palace yesterday when Grace and I left. People demanding lower taxes. I barely got Grace out of there unscathed.”
    “I haven’t seen anything like—” I stopped, remembering the men who had ambushed the king.
    “What?” Bran asked, eying me.
    I took a deep breath and told Bran and Aaric about my meeting with the king.
    “The king?” Bran frowned. “You didn’t tell him about our quest?”
    “Of course not.” I snorted with indignation. “I’m not stupid.”
    “Be careful, Adaryn,” Aaric said. “We can’t possibly know what his character is like. I would advise against any future meetings with the man.”
    “He knows healing, and has offered to teach me,” I told him. “We don’t have any healers in our clan. I can’t pass up this chance, Aaric.”
    Aaric bit his lip, his brow furrowing.
    “There’s a faction here who have been calling the commoners to action against the king,” Bran