“Go to him,” her father commanded from fifty feet away. He’d used his Voice, speaking so that it sounded as if he confided in her ear. Even here in the courtyard, with all the noise and commotion, he’d heard her whispered comment. “You know how long I’ve wanted to unite our two families.”

So, he’d come to offer a betrothal. Iome was of the proper age, though she’d had no worthy suitors. The sons of a couple minor lords wanted her, but none had holdings to equal her father’s.

But would Prince Orden propose now? Now, when the kingdom was under attack? No, he’ll offer no proposal, only extend apologies, Iome realized.

A waste of precious time. “I’m too busy,” Iome said. “There’s too much to do.”

Her father stared at her, his gray eyes full of sadness. How handsome he was. “You’ve been working for hours. You need rest. Take it now. Go speak to him, for an hour.”

She wanted to argue, but looked in her father’s eyes, which said, Speak to him now. Nothing you do can make a difference in the fight to come.

8

LESS THAN AN HOUR

An hour is not enough time to fall in love, but an hour is all they had that cool autumn afternoon.

In better times, Iome would have felt grateful even for that slight allotment of time in which to meet a suitor alone. Over the past winter her father had told her much about Gaborn, praised him highly, hoping that when this day came, she’d accept him willingly.

Under normal circumstances, Iome would have hoped for love. She would have prepared her heart for it, nurtured it.

But on this day, when her father’s kingdom was about to topple, meeting the son of King Orden served no purpose other than to satisfy a morbid curiosity.

Would she have loved him? If so, then this meeting would accomplish nothing more than to chain her with a painful reminder of what might have been.

More likely she’d have despised him. He was, after all, an Orden. Still, being wed to a man she despised would have seemed a minor inconvenience compared with what she feared lay ahead. Right now, she was acutely aware that her people owed Gaborn a debt for his service, and though she wanted nothing to do with him, she decided to treat him cordially, make the best of it.

As Iome climbed the stone stairway to meet Gaborn, her Days close behind, feet whispering across the ancient stone, Chemoise descended, met her halfway.