Fable: Edge of the World Read Online Free

“If His Majesty agrees?”
    He sighed. “I had hoped you would get to enjoy more of the pleasures of being queen before you were forced to share its duties, my love. But yes—come with us. I would have you all know that Queen Laylah is my true partner, as well as my wife.”
    She beamed, and again he wished that this “urgent matter” could have waited until tomorrow, at the very least. He kissed her hand. “Jasper, I trust that you will keep the crowd entertained until we rejoin you. Tell the others to meet me …” He hesitated for a moment, then acknowledged the seriousness of the matter. “To meet me in the War Room.”

Chapter Two
    T he king and his new wife arrived first. Rex followed obediently, heading straight for his favorite corner, where he turned nose to tail and promptly fell asleep. The others trickled in as Jasper was able to find them. First to arrive was Ben, already undoing his collar and shrugging out of the formal coat, flinging it casually on a chair. “Jasper said something’s up with Sabine.”
    “Your guess is as good as ours,” said the king. “I saw someone come in to speak to him and Jasper said we should all convene.”
    Ben bowed to the new queen. “You had him all to yourself for about two minutes, Your Majesty.”
    Laylah leaned in toward her husband, who slipped an arm about her waist. “More than I expected to have, truly. Do not worry, Mr. Finn. I understood the import of my choice in who I loved.”
    “Ben, please. I’m glad to hear you understand. But if you’ll pardon the language, it still stinks.”
    Laylah smiled. “So it does.”
    Page hurried in. Kalin followed her, her brow furrowed in worry. Laylah embraced Page tightly and smiled at her countrywoman,who, the king noticed, did not return the expression. Page drew back, smiling sadly. “I did warn you,” she said.
    “Everyone did,” Laylah said. “I am more concerned with whatever is going on with Sabine than in having the day interrupted. We are married, and to me, that is all that matters.”
    “Spoken like a true Auroran,” said Kalin. “I pray this is all not as dire as it seems.”
    “Hate to interrupt the romance, my lord,” came the gruff but warm voice of Jack Timmins, the captain of the guard. “Sabine’s right behind me, and from the way he and Jasper are behaving, we’ll soon have a situation here right enough.” Timmins had been made head of the Bowerstone Guards shortly after the devastating attack of the Nightcrawler upon Albion. With his brusque but professional, thoughtful manner he had won a place in the king’s affections as well as his esteem. He wasn’t Sir Walter Beck. No one could be. Walter was irreplaceable. But Timmins was turning into a true and loyal friend as well as a shrewd military advisor.
    The monarch barely had time to acknowledge Timmins when Sabine came trundling through the door, looking as furious as the king had ever seen him. With him was of course Boulder, and a young man—though not the Dweller messenger who had called Sabine away from the ceremony. This boy, who couldn’t be much older than twenty, if that, appeared different from anyone the king had ever seen. He was clad in Dweller clothes, but they were ill fitting and clearly not his own. His skin was the same shade as Laylah’s, but his brown eyes had a slight slant.
    Those eyes looked almost vacant, and the boy seemed to be sleepwalking. The king winced in sympathy. He knew the look of one who had borne witness to horrors no one should ever see.
    “This young fellow managed to survive crossing the Blade Mountains chain in the dead of winter,” Sabine began.
    “From Samarkand?” The king looked with renewed interest at the boy. No wonder he looked exotic. The monarch had never personally met anyone from Samarkand before, though of course he had heard stories of the place. The king’s father, a Hero himself, had traveled with a Samarkandian known as Garth as well as the disliked Reaver. The