Sorceress

Sorceress Read Free Page A

Book: Sorceress Read Free
Author: Lisa Jackson
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he could touch the beast and startle it. ’Twas his father’s mount, a stallion with one odd stocking. Gavyn’s heart knocked in his chest at the thought of being mere inches from the man who had sired him, the baron who detested him, the goddamned warrior who wanted him dead.
    “Eww, but, m’lord, the smell.”
    “ ’Twill not kill you, Badden,” Deverill said impatiently as several men farther away coughed but were smart enough not to argue. Badden, his father’s guard, was a big, burly man who wasn’t afraid to say what he thought, though he’d felt the back of Deverill’s hand or the insidious ridicule from his lord more often than not.
    Gavyn took in a quick, hideously smelling breath.
    The horse shifted, kicking up dry leaves and dirt as it turned, bridle jangling in the ever-darkening air. Were Gavyn to look up, he was certain he would find the angry countenance of his father, so like his own, glaring at the darkness, defying the night from falling so that he could finish his task.
    “Damn but it’s dark,” Deverill admitted. “Find him! Find the murderer, now!”
    “Leith should be back soon, with the dogs and fresh torches.” Again Badden had the nerve and lack of brains to speak up.
    Gavyn’s heart turned to ice. Fear crawled up his spine. His father’s hunting mastiffs were trained to be vicious. Weighing his chances, he heard the first distant bays of the huge dogs with their long fangs.
    He had no choice but to edge closer to the cliff and risk detection. With one eye on the white stocking of his father’s steed, he inched forward noiselessly. Jaw set, body screaming in pain, he dragged himself upward through the twilight and stench.
    As he did, a dry leaf rustled and the horse flinched.
    Gavyn didn’t dare breathe.
    “Shh,” the lord hissed again.
    And the air grew quiet, as still as a dead man’s heart.
    And then the horses began to move, to circle. Gavyn knew that the Baron of Agendor had motioned to his men without a word, silently instructing them to entrap him.
    He had to move. Even if it risked exposure.
    Squinting into the darkness, he spied the large split trunk of an oak that stood at the head of the path.
    Now.
    On his feet in an instant, Gavyn threw himself toward the cliff and the treacherous path that zigzagged down to the canyon floor.
    “There,” Badden shouted. “Over there!”
    Phhhht. An arrow zipped by his ear.
    He dove.
    Ssst. Another deadly missile passed him in the gathering dark.
    His feet found the end of the path, dirt crumbling beneath his boots.
    “Traitor,” his father roared.
    A hissing sound . . . and suddenly he was propelled forward by a burning pain that struck his shoulder. He spun around just in time to see, in the shadows, the Lord of Agendor’s bow raised, evidence that it was he who had found his mark.
    Was that a smile that curved across his lips?
    It was too dark to tell. In a heartbeat, Gavyn fell into the yawning darkness of the ravine.
     
Isa’s death had been the beginning , Bryanna thought as she rode beneath the portcullis of Castle Calon’s gate, leaving the keep that had become her home in the past few months. When she’d first traveled through these gates, Bryanna had never anticipated the odd turn of events that would take the life of the woman who’d nearly raised her . . . or the haunting strains of Isa’s voice thrumming through her head.
    Bryanna had been born and raised in Penbrooke with four siblings: brothers Tadd and Kelan, and sisters Morwenna and Daylynn. Upon the death of their father, Alwynn, Kelan had ascended to the barony at Penbrooke, but Castle Calon, still in his holdings, became a keep without a lord. At first many had looked to Tadd, who was off fighting for the king. But young, reckless Tadd was hardly ready to rule a keep.
    Then Bryanna’s older sister, Morwenna, had dared to defy convention. She’d insisted she was capable of running Calon, and their brother had grudgingly given her the chance. Bryanna

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