The Dread: The Fallen Kings Cycle: Book Two by Gail Z. Martin Page B

recent memory,” Jonmarc noted. “From what I’ve heard, your grandfather didn’t take kindly to your aunt eloping with Donelan.”
    Gethin grimaced. “No, he didn’t. And the rules that forbade the royal family to marry outsiders were struck down by my father, as soon as he took the throne, in Aunt Viata’s memory.”
    “But because your grandfather was spoiling for war, Tris’s father agreed to an arranged marriage between his heir and the heir to Isencroft’s throne, just to put Eastmark on notice. It managed to stop that war, but it created a real mess when Kiara ended up betrothed to Jared the Usurper and then sided with Tris.”
    “And if our intelligence is correct, Isencroft is on the brink of civil war over having a shared throne and a mixed-blood heir.” Gethin closed his eyes and shook his head. “And people actually believe that the royal family can do as they please.”
    “What do you think I can tell you?”
    “I believe that Berwyn and I will do our duty to our kingdoms, although she’ll make me prove myself to her, as is her right,” Gethin said, beginning to pace. “But can I win her heart?”
    Jonmarc chuckled. “Berry was quite the matchmaker, trying to pair up Tris and Kiara as well as Carina and me.So I suspect she harbors some hope of an agreeable match. I’m not the best person to ask about winning hearts, but it’s a good start to win her respect. She can’t stand pretense or arrogance. She can forgive mistakes but not lies. And she has a wicked sense of humor.”
    “I’m relieved to find that she’s not one of those fragile noble girls,” Gethin confessed. “You know something of Eastmark. We train our princesses just as hard as our princes in the sword.”
    “I found that out from a turn or two in the salle with Kiara,” Jonmarc said with a chuckle. “She held her own with me, and she said it was her mother’s training.”
    Gethin looked down. “I know Viata only from my father’s stories of her. He was much younger, and he mourned when grandfather banished her. When father took the throne, he found a court artist who remembered Viata and commissioned portraits of her. So in a way, she returned to the palace, at least in memory. I grew up hearing his stories about her and thinking how strong and brave she must have been to defy grandfather. When I was a child, I was silly enough to hope that I would find a beautiful, headstrong princess like Viata.”
    “Then you’ve come to the right place.” Jonmarc watched Gethin, surprised that the prince would be so open. That honesty, along with Gethin’s sword skills, raised Jonmarc’s opinion of the young man and made him somewhat more comfortable with the shaky alliance. “Berry’s got a lot of fire, and she has a good head on her shoulders. She needs someone who’ll admire that and support her, instead of trying to get the upper hand.”
    “I’ve thought a lot about Aunt Viata lately, because what happened back then is a great deal of the reason thatI’m here, now.” Gethin walked to the salle window and looked out toward the eastern horizon. “Eastmark has never willingly given one of its royal family for an alliance. Father’s taken a risk with this. There are some among the nobles who still agree with grandfather’s ways. They don’t want to see our blood ‘polluted’ by outsiders,” he said scornfully.
    “
Sathirinim
,” Jonmarc murmured. The term meant “corpse flesh,” and it was the view of many of Eastmark’s older leaders that the pallor of outsiders’ skin was evidence of deeper inferiority.
    Gethin’s head snapped up. “Don’t use that word! Father made it a crime to say it, and he’s done his best to root it out wherever he could from law and custom. Nothing enrages him more, not even blasphemy.”
    “But old ways die hard,” Jonmarc replied, understanding Gethin’s meaning. “Kalcen’s gone out on a limb sending you here. It’s the final defiance against what King Radomar did to