The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

“It’s just…I’m not sure I’ll have the time. Isn’t Rohaer coming?”

“They are,” he said with a dark tone. “We’re still waiting for our scouts, or perhaps Souriff herself, to tell us what kind of mobile force their king has deployed and how long they will take to get here. A number of missions have already commenced long before today to prepare for this event. Depending on various factors, we may opt to strike first. I don’t expect you to take many hours away from your training to brush up on your Kreppen, just some. It is important, as is one other matter.”

The king pulled a fine wooden box out of the inner pocket of his cloak and set it on the table. “It was recently my daughter’s birthday, in case you weren’t aware,” he said. “That is your gift to her. You came to me earlier and asked if there’s anything she’s fond of particularly. I told you that green is her favorite color and she is particularly fond of emeralds.” He gestured for me to open it.

I did so reluctantly. I tried not to make a sour face as I saw the beautiful bracelet adorned with emeralds.

“Um,” I said. “Won’t she know this is from you? I can’t imagine I could afford something like this.”

“You are paid very well, and you have spent very little of your coin, have you not?” The king sounded a bit offended.

“I apologize, sire. Yes, I am paid very well, and I have not needed to spend anything.”

“You could afford that bracelet. Trust me.”

He sounded to be telling the truth. Honestly, I hadn’t counted my money in some time. I had requested a while ago to stop receiving forty silver buckles each week and receive four gold coins, instead, because I had nowhere to keep all of the silver where I felt it was safe. Worrying about my money had begun to feel like a bother in the last few months. The king provided me and the others with everything we needed.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I could probably purchase many bracelets as expensive as this one, and it wouldn’t make much of a dent in the little treasury I’d accumulated.

God, am I rich?

It was a strange thing to consider. I supposed it made sense. I was paid very well, and I never spent any of my coin. That was the big difference between the king’s sorcerers and most everyone else in Lycast. Everyone else had to spend just about all that they earned in order to go about their lives.

There was one major problem, however. “Wouldn’t a bracelet like this give Callie the wrong idea?”

The king gave a good hearty laugh. I was pretty sure I had never heard him laugh before.

“Jon, it is not that expensive of a bracelet.”

I hoped he would continue and give me some idea of his intentions with this gift, but he said no more.

“That is all,” he intoned. “She should be in her study at this time. Present it to her there.”

I slowly turned and started toward the door. My measurements were done. I had a new sword, and armor was coming to me. I owed this king so much, and I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but….

“Sire,” I said as I turned around. “Do you intend to offer your daughter’s hand in marriage to the Chespars?”

Kataleya hadn’t told me not to mention it. I supposed that would be my excuse if this came back to bite me, not that it was a very good one.

Nykal frowned. “That is far from being decided. Why do you ask?”

I figured he was waiting to find out more information about the Chespars before he made a decision. Or perhaps I was underestimating his paternal instincts, and he was leaving the decision up to his daughter. Somehow, I doubted that was the case. It was a while ago that Callie had made it clear that her father had given her permission to choose her own husband, but a lot had changed since then. I figured the king wanted to give his daughter the choice, but he just couldn’t do it with this war going on. Like Kataleya said, Callie’s hand in marriage was a valuable commodity right now.

What I still didn’t understand was how exactly a marriage to me would help their cause. Unless his majesty was worried I might one day betray him if I didn’t marry into his family? I couldn’t imagine that thought was in his head. More likely, he was thinking long past this war as he was considering how valuable I might be to him. That made more sense.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to think that far ahead. There were too many immediate matters to worry about.

I wasn’t ready to tell the king that I didn’t want to marry his daughter. That would be presumptuous, rude, and who knew what kind of damage it would cause me.

Hopefully, the king would decide to use a marriage into his family in some other way than to tie me to them. I wanted to serve my kingdom, and I believed in Nykal, but I didn’t need a marriage to Callie to do what was right.

I just hoped Callie would be happy with whatever was decided, as it seemed like she didn’t have too much control in it.

“No reason,” I told the king definitively. “I was just curious.”

I was certain he knew I was keeping something in, but he politely let me go with a simple nod. Perhaps he didn’t want to push me on the matter, just like I didn’t want to be pushed. It could be detrimental to both of us.

I was almost certain about one thing, though. Kataleya had told me to look out for signs of Nykal showing interest in possibly offering his daughter’s hand in marriage to me. If this bracelet, which I still considered to be expensive, wasn’t a sign of what she had been talking about,