Free Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) by P.S. Power Page A

like Connie's sister or... Trice. That has to be looked into. Really, I'm not certain I even want to know at this point." There was a pause and then he shrugged. "So the thing here is that you can't kill her or her husband, since, you know, family . The worst you can do is disown them. You might also want to stop sleeping with Alphonse. Or Karina, if you two have met. Then again, that isn't totally forbidden by noble rules. Varley is. Just... you know, don't ."
    Tiera just seemed to go still for a second and then sighed softly.
    "Well, not a problem with that. It isn't a big deal after all. There might be a bit of a problem with something else though. A slight one. I'll tell you later? Are you going back to the school tonight? It's a bit embarrassing." The look she gave Karen was telling after a fashion. It looked guilty, not like they were co-conspirators or in on something together.
    Tor just shrugged. It was probably that she'd slept with Varley already or something. That wasn't good, but wasn't half as bad for her as it had been for him to do it, since they weren't as close that way. So, yeah, embarrassing, but nothing to languish over.
    There was a lot more small talk in the front room after that and while his family was polite and all the kids were there, they seemed a bit out of place really. Taman tried to talk to the adults, and about half of them were game. A large man, who turned out to be a sitting Count and looked about thirty or a little older, kept touching Tiera on the arm and shoulder as they spoke. It was enough that Tor nearly crossed the room to tell the man to back off when he felt a touch on his own arm.
    For half a second he didn't realize that it was his mother at all. She looked too young and as if she'd actually bothered with make-up for once.
    "Don't. Count Breen has asked for her hand in marriage already. She doesn't seem to be taking it seriously, but I gather that they're friendly. No need to get in the way of that. She needs what happiness she can hold on too, after a loss like the one you told me about. Losing someone like that... It must be horrid. I know they can't have been together long, a few weeks at most, but at her age, that can seem like a lifetime. It doesn't make the feelings any less real."
    That was a real enough point.
    "I... see. I keep forgetting she's old enough to actually get married and all that. Two Bends has that effect on me I guess. Are you just making the rounds and telling all of us to stand back or is it just me?"
    "Oh no, it's most of you. Only Todd has managed so far on his own. I don't know if he simply hasn't noticed or if Ursula has managed to rein him in. She's a sweet woman, isn't she? I'm a bit surprised that Alphonse showed up, after letting her go like he did. He seems happy enough to let her be happy though, which shows better upbringing than I would have expected. Not that I've heard anything that would make the Royal children out to be anything except polite and honest. Of course, I wouldn't , would I?" It wasn't exactly a polite thing to say, but Tor got the idea.
    "They're all decent people. You should get to know them, if you can. Just don't do anything with them that would force me to disown you. Again. We still need to chat about that. I doubt that leaving things up in the air is a good idea. I have some other things to talk with you and da about. Tomorrow afternoon?" He wasn't trying to be cryptic, not really, but saying that it was about Taman was probably the same thing as announcing to the whole room that she was special. Everyone would guess what it meant and that might not be the way they wanted things to go really.
    "Certainly." There was a coldness to the words, as if she expected to be scolded about something. Not that she didn't deserve it, but that wouldn't help, would it?
    "Not anything big or that uncomfortable. We have enough of that kind of thing on our plates already. I just don't know if I can say anything about it here ."
    His mother