Mountain King

By Nicole Delacour

Tragedy gave her a lordship and a secret. It gave him a crown.

Tariel hates court. As his four brothers are married, everyone expects he'll soon follow suit. All he wants is some peace and quiet. The only one leaving him alone is Lord Teo. Both preferring the forges to the court, the two bond over the flames.

An old mountain tradition of binding houses through the marriage of two bachelors puts Teo on Tariel's radar in a completely new way.

But Lord Teo has a secret.

While Teo stands before the court as a man and a lord, she knows her family's fate rests on no one ever realizing it was the brother who died and not the sister. The courtship might be the perfect solution; however, emotions change everything.

Both fear they're falling alone, but can this friendship grow? Or will the revelation of Teo's secret lead to the destruction she long feared?

MOUNTAIN KING is a historical romance filled with secret identities, friends to lovers, courtly intrigue, and a guaranteed happily ever after! If you adore strong women and noble men, you'll adore as these two blacksmithing rulers fall in love!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hidden Helm Press
• Release date: Mar 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224980017

Book preview

Mountain King

Nicole Delacour

Mountain King by Nicole Delacour

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

Mountain King

Copyright © 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Epilogue

Chapter One

With Cadeyrn’s marriage, what once were whispers in Bremydd became overt complaints. All around the court, lords muttered about King Tariel. He could hear them. A near constant stream of complaints, noting that though he was the second eldest of his brothers, he was the last to wed. They questioned if he would ever show any interest in marriage.

A man’s life is not complete without a wife, Lord Daviti noted with a swing of his finger and a waggle of his brow. I have many fine daughters —

Whenever lords began their lecturing, Tariel left, walking away even as they called after him. He had no desire to rule. If they wished to take his crown, he would be more than happy to hand it over to them despite his father’s will.

Emperor Selwyn made mistakes. His entire conquest felt like one grand mistake, which he at least recognized by splitting the country between his sons, but Brennus could have ruled the mountains. There was no reason to separate Bremydd from Waldvolk. While the lords stuck their noses in the air, saying that they had an understanding of the gods and the values of the world which those in Waldvolk could not understand, nobles proved much the same now as they had when Selwyn had first brought him to court after slaughtering the wolves which had once been Tariel’s only family.

You are a human, Selwyn informed the boy despite having locked the child in a cage after he attempted to bite a knight.

At the time, Tariel hadn’t known what those words meant. The emperor repeated them. Gave them a weight that the boy couldn’t forget, and he practiced the cadence in the night. His soft tones rose, leaving the soldiers all the more unnerved as he drew circles in the dirt with one finger and repeated the syllables over and over again.

Brennus taught him the language. His elder brother, and the only one in those early days, took Tariel under his wing, understanding their father had no paternal bones in his body — though he later attempted far more with Kian and Minos. In those early days, Selwyn missed his witch wife, and he left the two boys behind as he went out on long campaigns, so if Brennus hadn’t cared to come to Tariel’s defense, he might have never learned much at all after biting their tutors one too many times.

You are my brother, Brennus used to explain, showing pictures — drawings he had made himself of the two of them and their relationship to the emperor. We are his heirs.

Heir and spare, maids would mutter.

Their tutor huffed, sneering. An heir and a pet, more like.

People never made sense. Wood made sense. Carved or burnt, it had a purpose. Metal made sense. The right heat, the right tension — swords and armor had purposes. Nobles wandered about, taking money and making demands when they had no idea about the land they ran more often than not. The lords knew the schedule that filled their pockets. Counted when the harvest came, compared the numbers to the last year and concluded how much more they would make.

If it were only the lords, Tariel would have ignored them. They never dirtied their clothes in the forge. When he arrived for council meetings, he intimidated them enough to get to the point, avoiding their floundering with threats of power. He had already found reason to kill one man