The Queen Maker
Page 31
He gave a nod and thought. While his normal impulse was to go and find out what was happening, it was a luxury he couldn’t presently afford. “I doubt it’s anything I need to trouble myself with. We have much greater worries at hand.”
Sabetha gave a nod, regretting she couldn’t tell him anymore. She knew he was preoccupied with a recent development. “I will keep watch.”
“Good,” he said, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. “I would go see what he was up to, but I can’t leave until I deal with whatever is happening on our border.”
For the first time since Athan had taken over, his country’s border had been compromised. There was no one to blame for the invasion, however. A strange, unseasonal blizzard had swept across their eastern border, cutting terrestrial passage for his armies off to the rest of the known world. For the time being, his nation’s only means of travel was by sea.
It would have been simple enough to write it off as a freak weather phenomenon, but there was more to it than that. Anyone who attempted to travel into the storm either disappeared or returned with grievous wounds that killed them later. Something, or someone, was hiding in that storm, and Athan wasn’t about to allow anyone to toy with his nation’s borders or sovereignty.
“I will watch that, too,” she said quietly.
He placed a light kiss onto her forehead before stepping back. “I know you will, but don’t fatigue yourself to the point of getting sick again, little bird. I cannot afford to lose you.”
Sabetha gave a nod that caused her whole upper body to dip before she turned away from Athan to retreat to her quarters.
Athan watched her go, hesitating in the hallway. While he’d checked in on Keiran and his dealings unseen several times since his ordeal in the Sador Empire, he’d not made an official appearance.
Though the thought of Keiran moving around unguarded troubled him, it was energy and time he couldn’t afford to expend. He felt he’d gotten his point across to Keiran, Thana, and Corina, well enough to keep them in line for a time.
Soon, he gave up dedicating any more time to it and went into his library, where several of his military leaders were already waiting for him.
Talaus was at war, he just had no idea against whom.
Royal Blood Book III: The Lost Duke