Free Ethon (The Other Worlds Series Book 2) by M.L. Greye Page B

changes within the world of Tlaid, or rather Tiara’s new kingdom. During the last three weeks, Tiara had cared a great deal about the Saerdian politics, but at the moment all she wanted to do was forget anything of or related to government. Her brain had never felt so overloaded and restless at the same time in her entire life.
    “I think the citizens realize there will be significant alterations,” Archrin Lorth pointed out in Arthelian from his seat beside Tiara. Despite her best efforts to make the switch to Saerdian, the Kendren tongue of Arthelian was still widely used in Tlaid.
    Tiara glanced at her fiancé, the former Kendren officer. His dark brown – almost black – hair fell to his ears and halfway down his forehead. When she had first met him, his hair had been much shorter, in Kendren fashion. Over the past couple months it had grown to resemble the style worn by most Other Worlder men. His olive skin gave him the appearance of always being tan, and his beautiful mismatched eyes sat beneath a dark brow. One eye was a blue-green and the other violet. This right eye was the sign of his breed. All Craeles had one violet eye.
    Even though Tiara knew he loved her before she became princess of the Saerds, Archrin didn’t propose to her until after the defeat of the Kendren brothers. He personally had killed two of the three brothers. The last one died in the same manner he had murdered his sister – hung from the battlements in plain sight. That had been two and a half weeks earlier.
    It was just three days later that Archrin had asked her to marry him. At the memory of that special night, Tiara couldn’t help but smile. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of being proposed to in her home world of Drivian at sunset in the middle of Ildatch Forest. It would have happened after an invigorating long ride or maybe a swim in the river. But reality rarely played out the way she imagined. Then again, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
    There had been so many changes to her life in the past few months that she had given up on many of her childhood dreams, making way for new ones, which included Archrin. Even though she wasn’t proposed to in the manner she had originally planned, the real event with Archrin had been sweet, touching, and characteristic of him – blunt, simple, and gentle.
    After the conquering of the Kendren brothers, Tiara saw very little of Archrin during those first three days of Tlaidian independence. He and General Gyrvin Voiel were kept busy with the deconstruction and realignment of the Kendren armies. But one night Archrin decided he had endured enough time away from her and snuck out of the castle with her for a midnight ride. Apparently, Archrin was raised in Desnbi, the capital of Tlaid, so he knew the area exceptionally well.
    They rode to several of his favorite spots as a child while he spoke of his life before his parents had died. His mother and he were the only Craeles in his immediate family. With Craeles, if both parents were half-human and half-animal then all of their children would be the same. However, with a mixed marriage, it was always a surprise. Children were either all Craele or all human.
    Following Archrin’s birth, his parents were sure they would have another Craele, but his two younger sisters were both Saerds. It never bothered Archrin, though, that he and his mother were the only Craeles. It had created a special bond between them. When she died, Archrin was devastated. Even now, his heart often ached for his mother. He wished Tiara could have known her.
    Following their tour of Desnbi, Archrin veered the horse carrying them into a nearby forest, called Lorvn. There, he took her to a small cavern cut into the side of one of the low mountain ranges surrounding the city. For a short period after his parents’ death, Archrin chose to live in his animal form within the walls of the cave. His sisters were under the care of his aunt, thinking he had