Deception's Pawn (Princesses of Myth) Read Free

place and I collapsed on the nearest bed with a groan, burying my face in the bedclothes.
    The other girls gathered around me in silence. No one knew what to say. Finally, Ula spoke up. “We’d better go to breakfast. Lady Lassaire will be wondering why we’re so late.”
    “I don’t want breakfast,” I said. “I want to die.”
    “I don’t care what you want to do; I’m hungry. Breakfast first, dying later.” Ula’s mild joke made me giggle in spite of myself. She tugged gently at a strand of my hair. “Dairine, bring me my comb; you know where I keep it. While I unsnarl these tangles, you and Gormlaith can pick out something for Maeve to wear.” She got no arguments. Any quarrels that had sparked among them were extinguished. I let myself be dressed and groomed as if I were a toddler. My mind was too overrun by humiliating memories for me to object.
    When they were done, Dairine smiled and asked, “Ready for your first day at Dún Beithe, Lady Maeve?”
    “I’d better be,” I replied with a grimace. “It’s off to a wonderful start.”

C HAPTER T WO

    Seeds
    I SCARCELY TASTED my first breakfast at Dún Beithe. I was too filled with embarrassment to take more than a bite of bread. My mind refused to let go of the mortifying scene with Kian no matter how much I tried to think of something else. To make matters worse, when the girls and I dutifully presented ourselves to Lady Lassaire and wished her a good morning, she hurried forward to take my hands and drag me to sit beside her. It was a hospitable gesture and she meant no harm by it. The trouble was, sitting next to her also put me next to Kian.
    Kian! Kian, who’d just seen me less than half-clothed. Kian, the young man Devnet believed now held my beloved kestrel, Ea. The single person I needed to speak with was now the one I couldn’t even look in the eye.
    I nibbled my lower lip nervously, keeping my gaze firmly fixed on the uneaten food before me. What if Devnet’s wrong about the bird? I thought. He told me he’d seen Lord Artegal’s son with a kestrel that wore a red braid around one foot. I wove that token for Ea from a lock of my own hair—but am I the only person who’d do such a thing for a favorite creature?
    I remembered Odran, the dark-haired, gentle son of Master Íobar the druid. He had a passion for healing animals, a gift that must have come to him from Flidais, goddess of all wild things. Odran understood why I placed that plaited bracelet around Ea’s leg. It wasn’t a sign of ownership, master to slave. It was a mark of affection, friend to friend. Couldn’t Kian feel the same, do the same for a cherished animal?
    Odran …  My mouth went dry and my lips grew warm with the memory of how we’d kissed. The abandoned crannog where we’d met to care for the ailing animals became our refuge, a place where our first hesitant attraction turned to the sweet pleasure of tender kisses. I’d wished it could last forever.
    But Odran’s father had other plans. He wanted his son to follow him on the druid’s path. If that failed, he wanted to force us into marriage so that he could enjoy borrowed power as the High King’s kinsman. I refused to let him have his way, and the innocent animals paid for it. Now they were gone. The ones that failed to flee were slaughtered by Master Íobar’s slingstones as he avenged his wounded pride. I saw my Ea soar away, only to be struck down in midflight. I thought she was dead until Devnet brought news that she might be the wounded kestrel Kian had found and healed.
    Master Íobar hauled his son away to Avallach, the island where he’d be taught the druid’s path. I would never see Odran again.
    I needed to see Ea. I needed to know that Master Íobar’scruelty wasn’t powerful enough to destroy something so beautiful and free. I needed the memories of Odran that rode on her strong and graceful wings. I needed—
    “Lady Maeve?” Lord Artegal leaned forward in his place on Lady