Sorceress' Blood Read Free Page A

make sure you
are silent or to find us through you. However, you're also free to
stay; the choice is yours. The child will remain, though, and we will
track down her family to bring them here until we ascertain if they
are indeed from the Sorceress' blood line and then find a way to keep
them safe."
    "I'm not leaving her with you people!" Rebecca stood up.
Her chair fell with a clatter behind her. Her leg nearly buckled
under the sudden strain. Lord Sebastian didn't even flinch.
    "Then you will be staying. Do not take it the wrong way, Miss
Williams, but you have a losing hand. We're far from the world you
know, and everyone here works for me; most of them are my knights.
That means they are strong and ready for combat against anyone."
Rebecca opened her mouth to reply but no words came. She was defeated
and now she was trapped. She looked down at the little girl to see
how she was taking it. The little girl was sitting quietly in her
chair; she had no words, no emotion on her face, nothing at all.
Rebecca crossed her arms and looked back at Lord Sebastian
expectantly. He smiled with satisfaction but without looking smug;
his was a graceful, gentlemanly nature, even in victory.
    "Would you please show these two to their rooms, my dear? “
    “Yes, Lord Sebastian," the maid replied and walked around
to the side of the table. "Please follow me." Rebecca took
the girl by the hand and followed her back through to the entrance
hall.
    They were led up the stairs to the second floor. A long, wide
corridor stretched the length of the house with a row of doors along
both walls. Each room had a name, written on its wooden door in
beautiful, flowing, golden writing. One such door had the word
‘Beira’ written on it. They stopped outside this room and
the maid turned to Rebecca and said:
    “This will be your room for the duration of your stay. Please
try not to lose your key.”
    “What about her?” Rebecca asked, looking down at the
little girl.
    “She is to use the Oisin room next to yours.” The maid
took the little girl by the hand, instructed her to follow and guided
her to the next door along the hallway. Rebecca watched her being led
into the room and then went quietly into her own. The room was as
elegant as the rest of Lord Sebastian’s castle. The carpet was
a rich, dark scarlet; white silk sheets were spread over the
varnished, wooden double bed. No expense had been spared in
decorating the room with beautiful, classical landscape paintings and
a magnificently designed, curving dresser with six drawers and a
large round mirror in a golden frame on the top of it. Next to the
dresser, on the left side of the room, was a door leading to a full
bathroom with marble surfaces; the right wall had a sliding door to a
wardrobe built into the wall. Rebecca had never seen a room like it,
except in hotel brochures for places she could never afford to stay
at. Everything around here was the finest money could buy and there
were some items she didn’t imagine you even could buy any more.
When she sat down on the bed she felt herself sink a little as the
mattress and the sheets moulded to fit her body with the utmost
comfort.
    Rebecca began to examine the cut on her leg. The bleeding had
stopped, after staining her stockings, and had begun to scab over.
Her hands were also looking fine but she still felt a few bruises
here and there. Rebecca was fortunate in that she had a faster
metabolism than most and her body put itself back together quickly
because of it. The downside was that it made her hungrier and more
often – like at that very moment, as she examined herself in
the Beira room on the second floor of Lord Sebastian’s castle.
There were troublesome aches in her body and the only formal clothes
she had were scuffed and torn and all-together ruined by the day’s
events; being hungry just made that seem even worse. A clock on the
wall confirmed her suspicions that it was getting close to dinner
time and she wondered what