Read The King's Sons (The Herezoth Trilogy) for Free Online

entire family. Visited Traigland when I was eight.”
    Kansten
thought back to the occasion. Three brothers and their sister had come from
Herezoth; they had stayed with her uncle for a number of days, and Kansten and
her siblings had kept them entertained. One had even been bitten….
    “You’re
Ryne’s brother? Ryne and the snake? Good heavens, you’re Brant, aren’t you? Is
your father still a butler here? Do you work at the Palace now?”
    The man let
out a powerful but good-natured laugh. “Hardly. I just returned from a trip to
the meadow with my dogs…. I’m Hune Phinnean.”
    Rexson
Phinnean’s youngest son. “No you’re not,” Kansten shot.
    “I’m afraid
I am.”
    “Then your
brother Tommy, he….”
    “He would be
the crown prince.”
    Kansten felt
dizzy, and leaned back against the settee where she sat. “There is no way
that….”
    The dog had
given up on seeking Kansten’s company, so the prince let it lie and rose to his
full height. “My father wanted us out of Herezoth,” Hune explained. “Some fools
had threatened us. He sent us to your mother and uncle, because he could trust
them. He gave us false names.”
    “And you
used them. Your brother lied to me.”
    The oldest
brother, “Tommy”—Tommy who would be king, Valkin Phinnean by
birth—had named his father a butler and his mother the queen’s maid.
    Hune’s glee
departed. That awkward look from when he first noticed Kansten, it returned in
full force. “I’m sorry,” he said.
    “You? What
did you do?”
    “Nothing, I
suppose. I….”
    Hang
Kansten’s candor. It was always making men uncomfortable, and this was a
prince. She softened her tone.
    “Are you and
your brothers close?”
    “As close as
most are.”
    “If that
means close enough to tell them you met me here, I wish you wouldn’t.”
    “If you’d
prefer that,” said the prince, “then I won’t. I don’t see the harm in
mentioning you’re visiting Vane, but….”
    “We got
along as kids, me and your oldest brother. I’d feel so awkward if he tried to
say hello or wanted to reminisce. I mean, I had no clue who he was….”
    The beagle
turned its attention to the door at its master’s back, and two more men
appeared.
    Their attire
was formal enough to include fitted vests. They looked twenty years
old—surely neither was yet twenty-five—and they were blond, with
their hair tied in the same manner as Hune’s. One wore glasses, the shorter of
the two (though only by an inch). Both gazed at Kansten while Hune stood mute.
    “Who’s
that?” the spectacled man asked the prince. Kansten replied from her seat.
    “Hello,
Tommy.”
    Tommy—or
Valkin—stared at her face. He studied the freckles she had never lost and
shook his head in disbelief. “Kansten?” he said. “From Traigland?”
    “You must be
Neslan Phinnean,” she greeted the other blond man. The brother that snake had
nearly killed. His nose was thinner than Valkin’s, slim like Hune’s, but his
cheekbones were the most prominent of the three. All the brothers were comely
in their way, with handsome if varied features. Their poise and their confident
airs did much to push their appearances past respectable; already the crown
prince was recovering from his shock.
    Neslan
asked, “What are you doing in Podrar? At the Palace?”
    “Vane
brought her,” said Hune.
    The crown
prince asked, “How long will you be in the capital?”
    “I’m not
sure. I’m hoping to see much of the kingdom. Vane can take me all over, after
all.”
    “Why would
you want him to?” asked Neslan. Kansten clenched her jaw. “You’re Kora Porteg’s
daughter, aren’t you? A sorceress. What if people found out you were in
Herezoth? I don’t mean to be churlish, but you…. You’d be in danger.”
    Who do you think you are, to know what’s best
for me?
    This man
knew nothing about her life or her apprenticeship with Cline Dagner. Kansten
rose from her seat. “I’ll be as safe here as anyone. My