The Message

By Shiela Young

Gemaria is one of a growing group of new royals in the Incorporated Kingdoms, and she is reluctantly settling into her life - until a strange man sends her on a strange mission back to her home town, to deliver a single-word message. Now she travels with two men, both of whom she is interested in and has developing feelings for. The three-day ride back to her home town brings out a lot of hidden emotions and dangers and more than a few chances for secret trysts. Will she choose the one, or the other? And what is the secret she is being sent to find out?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shiela Young
• Release date: Jul 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476450902

Book preview

The Message

Sheila Young

Copyright 2012 by Sheila Young

Smashwords Edition

The Message

Copyright© 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 1

Lady Gemaria had just decided that perhaps, just perhaps, going to the formal dinner and dance wouldn’t be such a bad thing, when the laces of her corset broke. She cursed, loudly, and then her face reddened as she looked around to make sure no one was there with her. None of the ladies in waiting had snuck back in. Her little social hiccup would go unnoticed.

She had several such hiccups a day, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep people from seeing that she was not the well-bred lady that her father had portrayed her as to the King. Father was so worried about his social standing that she was sure if he could, he would lock her away in Standwatch Tower until she reached the age of spinsterhood and would no longer be his problem to deal with.

But for the moment, at the tender age of nineteen, she was still under her father’s protection and providence, and most certainly still his problem. And right now, her problem was getting dressed for this inane dinner and dance she was expected to attend.

She glowered at the broken bodice strings and decided to simply do without the contraption under her dress. It’s not like her body needed to be shaped into proper form. Her only issue was with confining her top half; she had ripened early and the corset helped keep the young men’s stares to a minimum. But tonight, she would show off what she had.

She giggled a bit to herself at the thought. There were several young men who would be attending tonight’s function who enjoyed staring at her. There were a few in particular, such as Gorsen or Willford, that she enjoyed getting attention from. Perhaps tonight wouldn’t be so bad after all.

And of course, Prince Quentin would be there.

Her father would kill her to hear such thoughts. But as she dressed herself in the frilly, and somewhat voluminous red dress that had been laid out for her, she decided it was perhaps time she decided for herself what she wanted out of life. Before her father had her married off to that popinjay Clarence, the book-maker’s son.

Father had been increasingly forceful of late with his hints that she needed to wed. And he wanted to see that she would be well taken care of by her future husband. But Gemaria was not willing to sacrifice her life to a man simply because he had coin. Whoever would finally get a look at what was under these skirts, would earn the right.

She set her long blonde tresses in place while watching her reflection in her standing mirror, and touched the tip of her pinky to either side of her mouth, making sure the lip-color she had applied wasn’t smearing. She wore very little make-up, and her oval face and cupid’s bow mouth really didn’t need much.

Gemaria had been told several times, by several men, that she was pretty. And she supposed it was true, in a sort of way that she failed to see. The attentions paid her by potential suitors like Gorsen, or God help her Clarence, told her it was probably true. So let the boys look at her tonight, then.

Her room was a small one on the east end of Castle Longetrance. She had shared it for a time with an older cousin, Baleucia, but Baleucia had married two years back and now lived on her own with her husband in a quaint cottage in the Northern Territories. Gemaria had been able to put her own touches to the room after that, and the bare stone walls were now mostly covered by drapings in deep reds and light blues, and her bed now had sheets of pale pink with sheer pink curtains around it. Besides the standing mirror and her wardrobe dresser, there wasn’t a whole lot of space left for anything else.

Except for one item. In a corner of the room leaned a tall, carved wooden staff that had been covered in a dark stain that made the wood seem to shine with inner light. A group of Gypsies passing through the area had stopped at the doors to the Castle once and Gemaria had gone out to see what they were offering for sale. The old gypsy woman who had sold the staff to Gemaria for ten coppers had tried to convince her it had been a wizard’s staff, once upon a time. Gemaria had smiled kindly at the woman and listened to her sales pitch with only mild interest. The staff was a great piece of workmanship, and sturdy enough to use as a quarterstaff in her tranings with Piter when father wasn’t paying attention. Past that, she really didn’t care what the woman had to say about it.

Dinner tonight was set to start at six o’clock sharp, as all such functions were at Castle Longetrance. She had no timepiece in her room but she knew it was nearing evening already. The single window in her room showed a darkening horizon toward the east. This time of year the sun would be setting in just a few hours. Spring had passed and summer had