Free The Harem Master by Megan Derr Page B

Ihsan had been learning how to rule a country, and Asli had been learning to be a queen. Euren had been training with the soldiers, mastering her throwing knives and how to go about the palace without drawing attention to herself.
    She had cried in her bed many a night after she'd realized that she liked Ihsan a little too much, and Asli too, and that once they were married, they would both be too far away to remember the silly soldier's child they'd once played with.
    A soft touch to her arm drew her from her thoughts, and she accepted a sip of wine offered up by Gulden, then picked out a sliver of cheese and a plump olive. It was good food—expensive food—but the monks did not believe in the old practice of plain, simple fare. A pious man required good food the same as anyone.
    The sound of people in the hall made her look up and forget all about food as Emre and Meltem entered, followed by the rest of their people. They made a handsome pair, brother and sister, and seemed so close in age she could not tell who was the elder.  Both still wore mostly black, though bright colors had been added in small measure. Emre's sleeveless shirt was decorated with red and gold swirls, the throat cut low to display a swath of his tattooed chest.
    Meltem was dressed in pants that fit her legs close, overlaid by a black skirt that fell to her knees and was decorated in thin lines with a swirling pattern in a rainbow of colors. Her top was black with stripes of color going across the center. It covered her shoulders, but left her stomach bare, displaying that she too had tattoos covering a good portion of her body. Her hair, tightly bound before, had been pulled back into a simple tail of loose curls that half-spilled over one shoulder. Beautiful—distractingly so. Euren tore her gaze away and focused on the food and wine once more.
    They settled around the table, cheering at the offerings of wine and thanking the monks several times as they poured and began to thoroughly enjoy the meal. The first course vanished quickly, and the second was brought, filling the hall with the fragrant scent of several kinds of roasted meat and vegetables, an herb-rich rice, and still-steaming stacks of flatbread.
    When they'd all eaten for a few minutes and the conversation resumed, Euren looked at Emre. "So what favor did Ihsan do that you would do this for me?"
    "He saved the lives of our two younger brothers," Emre replied. "Your Highness must know of the war that has carried on these past few years between Tavamara and the countries to the north. While the sands prefer to leave you to your fighting, we cannot always avoid it. My brothers were out with soldiers learning how to patrol and were swept up by troops from Hadge. They were missing for two years; we thought they were dead. Then one day this crazy fool shows up accompanied by three other equally crazy fools and our missing brothers. Prince Ihsan protected them the whole time they were in that prison camp, often bringing harm down on himself in the process. "
    Warm fondness curled through Euren even as old anxiety stabbed her heart. "That sounds like Ihsan. He's told me some of what happened to him these past years, but we've not been together long enough for him to tell me much." Only the stuff that tore him apart, that needed out before it festered, and only after he'd exhausted himself trying to keep it in anyway.
    Seeing his body torn apart from the shrapnel bomb had been heartbreaking. She hated seeing him hate himself, think himself no longer beautiful—as if she or his men needed him to be beautiful at all. She had not sequestered herself for five years because he was pretty, the idiot.
    "He is a fine man, and I think he will also be a fine king," Meltem replied. "He spoke of you often, Highness. Said more than once that he probably should have let you be the one to go off to war. Loved to tell us of how you bested him every time you sparred."
    Euren laughed. "I am not convinced he did