Second Stone by Kelly Walker Page B

burned with a crimson flush, the rest of her skin cast in an eerie pallor.
    “Alara, this is Torian Ahlen ,” Kahl said as his wife looked up from her spot on the floor near Emariya’s head.
    Alara’s eyes grew wide. “Your Highness.” As she tipped her head forward, her long, graying hair brushed the ground. Torian thought she must have been beautiful in her day, not that she wasn’t pleasant to look at now. Suddenly an image of himself and Emariya, gray and wrinkled, flashed through his head. He could only pray that was what The Three held in store for them.
    “Torian, please. I hope I am among friends here.”
    A tiny smile played at the corners of Alara’s mouth, much as he’d seen on Emariya’s own face countless times. The similarities between his bride-to-be and these two people were downright disconcerting.
    “Torian, then. Are you hungry?” Alara asked.
    “I’m fine, My Lady. Please, can you help Riya?”
    “So is that what she’s called, then? Riya?”
    Torian blushed and wondered when he’d started using the nickname that Garith and the rest of her friends often used for her. “By those close to her. Her name is Emariya.”
    “Emariya.” Alara sort of played with it on her tongue and then smiled. “Well, if we’re to help her, we need to know what happened. I think you’d best start at the beginning.”
    Oh, by The Three, what was the beginning? Was it their trip to Sheas, or was it when her brother had written to him, offering her hand in exchange for an alliance? Unsure what might or might not be important, he started at the very beginning. As quick as he could, he told them briefly of her adventurous trip from Eltar to Castle Ahlen, their plans to marry, and the fire Khane had started.
    When Torian began his tale, Kahl settled himself at the little table. At the mention of Khane, he asked Torian to explain.
    “Well, according to Khane himself, he’s your grandson, too. He said his father was—” Torian stopped. Khane claimed his father was Kahl’s bastard. Was Alara aware?
    “Go on,” Kahl urged.
    “Well, he said he was his father’s bastard, just as his father was before him.”
    Alara answered, “My son, Alrec—Khane’s father—was no bastard, other than that he didn’t claim us. Wild as can be, that boy was. I don’t know if Khane knew the truth and lied, or if his father lied to him. Either is possible.”
    Kahl slammed his hand against the table and stood up. “No good, worthless, wild as a boar-born heathen. That boy was trouble walking.”
    “Sit, Kahl.” Alara cut her eyes at her husband, not looking away until he complied. “Excuse my husband’s temper.”
    With a wry smile, Torian told her, “Don’t think a thing of it.”
    “Anyway,” Alara continued her story, “Khane’s father Alrec was wild from the day he was born. What’s worse, he was selfish and took great fun in being a bother. To everyone but his older sister, Valencia, that is. They were thicker than blood, and Valencia was heartbroken when her father sent him away. Still, it was for the best. We were responsible for leading Sheas at that time, you understand. Leadership had passed through the Roth line for a long time, and Alrec was just too reckless. It would have been disastrous for everyone had he ever been tasked to lead the land. He wasn’t as levelheaded and calculating as Valencia. Now that girl, my Lena, she was fearless, but more than that, she had a shrewd mind. She would have made a fantastic leader.”
    Torian interrupted, “Sheas allows leadership to pass to women?”
    Behind him Kahl chuckled. “Allow them or have them take it anyway, far as I reckon. Our women are known to be a bit hardheaded.”
    Torian couldn’t suppress a grin as he looked at Emariya. He could believe it.
    Alara continued, “Either way, we never heard anything from Alrec after he left. I had no idea he had a son.”
    “The bad seed of a bad seed.” Kahl frowned. “What happened after the