Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)(31)
“That’s true,” he said. “But you please me more surrounded by things of beauty than things of war.”
He continued to amaze her, this Kai prince with his wolf smile and radiant soul. With that bit of praise, he’d made the garden her favorite place to visit in Haradis, even now when it slept, brittle and black under the sunlight.
“I have a fine husband indeed,” she said aloud to herself as she soaked up the morning rays.
“I wholeheartedly agree,” the subject of her thoughts replied.
Ildiko jumped as a heavily cloaked and hooded Brishen sat down beside her. He turned a shoulder against the sun so that his hood protected his face from direct light.
“What are you doing up?” she asked. Only the guards on duty were awake at this hour, and the one who stood sentinel nearby kept watch from the deep shadows cast by leafy limbs of a tree.
Brishen’s eyes were yellow slits in his dark face. “I might ask the same of you.”
“I miss the sun,” she said. She didn’t resent changing her sleep schedule to mimic the Kai’s, but her body craved a bit of daylight. “And I couldn’t sleep anyway, so I thought I’d come out here. It’s peaceful.”
“With no one around?” His smile had taken on a wry quality.
Ildiko shrugged. “Yes. While the Gauri court was just as crowded and busy, I was often left to my own devices and not so closely...”
“Scrutinized?” Brishen sighed at her nod. “It can be suffocating if you’re not used to it.”
“Are you used to it?”
“Not anymore.”
Ildiko wondered what had changed for him. He answered her unspoken question.
“Since I spend most of my time on my estate, the palace feels like an overcrowded nest of angry wasps.” He traced a line down her arm. “What think you if we quit this place and travel home? I’m eager to show you what I call sanctuary.”
Ildiko captured his hand and kissed his knuckles. She laughed when he only flinched a little. “Do I have to bid your mother goodbye?”
“If you feel up to a little self torture, certainly. I avoid her whenever possible. When do you want to leave?”
“Now?”
He leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll bargain for tonight. You need sleep and so do I. And I need out of this hideous sun before I go completely blind.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“What’s the fastest we can load supplies and assemble troops for the journey home?” Brishen glanced over his shoulder as he brushed down his favorite horse. Anhuset leaned against the stall door, her arms draped casually over the top bar. She straightened abruptly at Brishen’s question, the perpetual frown line between her pale eyebrows smoothing.
“As fast as you want them. I’ll see to it.” She rubbed her palms together. “Does this mean you’ve grown tired of trotting yourself and the hercegesé out before the royal court like prized horseflesh?”
Brishen tossed the brush into a nearby bucket and patted the mare’s shoulder. “I was sick of it before we even got here. Ildiko has been more patient about the whole thing than I have, but she’s done as well.”
Anhuset swung the stall door open to let him out and closed it behind him. “She adapts easily.”
“One of her many strengths.”
She followed him to the pump by the well where he levered water into his hands for washing. Stable hands and soldiers milled around them. They bowed or saluted as they passed Brishen and his trusted lieutenant on their way to or from the royal stables.
Anhuset handed him a towel from a nearby rack. “Did you tell her Saggara is more fortress than palace?”
Brishen motioned for her to follow him as they made their way back to the private palace gates used by the royal family. “She knows we perch near the border with Belawat. I don’t think I’ll need to explain why that requires a garrison close by.”
“She’s palace-born and bred, Commander. Saggara lacks the comforts of Haradis and from what I saw at your wedding, it most definitely lacks the finer things of Pricid.”
He shrugged and strode to the gates, acknowledging the bowing guards with a quick nod. “As you say, she adapts easily.”
It was true that Ildiko had a particular talent for adjusting quickly not only to new surroundings but to circumstance and situation as well. She’d never uttered a word of complaint about sleeping on the ground in a tent or spending hours on horseback when they traveled from Pricid to Haradis. She’d changed her sleeping habits to match those of the Kai and choked down food even some of the Kai found challenging. He had every faith she would take yet another change of scenery with the same equanimity she’d shown so far.
Still, he wanted Ildiko to like Saggara, not simply adjust to it. The estate had been his since the king had given it to him more than a decade earlier on the promise Brishen would hold it in the role of margrave and defend Kai borders against an increasingly hostile Belawat. A five-night ride from Haradis, Saggara was his refuge from court intrigue and the queen’s malevolent presence.
Secmis had declared her disapproval of his move to Saggara by calling the old estate a filthy midden not fit for beggars and declared she’d never grace him with her presence while he resided there. It was only one of three times Brishen could recall in his life where he’d been even remotely tempted to embrace his mother.