The Tempted Read Free

degree, he could feel his heartbeat begin to slow. Stefan’s wrath doubled, his rage expanded until it exploded within him.
    The next thing he knew, he was lying on a floor of stones. Stefan rose up on his arm and looked around for Ilinca so he could kill the gypsy witch.
    Except there was nothing but darkness and silence.
    The silence was eerie and the dark was cold, malicious.
    He managed to get to his knees before he grew dizzy. He fell forward onto his hands and took huge gulps of breath.
    “You’re here, Stefan Kennedy, because you are empty inside,” said a female voice all around him, crackling with age. “For that I curse you. You will be locked in this place until you get the chance to control your rage. If you fail, you’ll spend eternity here.”
    Stefan sat back on his haunches with his hands on his thighs. It looked like he would never get out of whatever hell the old gypsy had put him in.  
    That thought only made his fury grow.
    He got to his feet and felt…nothing. There wasn’t even a stirring of air. No cold, no heat, no sound, and definitely no light. He wasn’t thirsty or hungry or tired.
    What he was, however, was totally and completely alone.
    Stefan knew that feeling well. It hadn’t been around in a decade, but it was familiar nonetheless. It had remained his constant companion after his mother had died, right up until Ronan, Morcant, and Daman befriended him.
    Where were his friends? Ronan and Morcant had disappeared in front of him. Did that mean Ilinca cursed them, as well? Could they be in this same prison?
    Stefan grunted. “No’ likely.”
    Ilinca wouldn’t be so kind as to put all four of them in the same place, not where they might find each other.   As for Daman, Stefan knew his friend was most likely cursed, as well.
    Something snapped inside Stefan. It was the part of him that his friends kept in check, the part that fell away after his mother had died.
    This time he knew it was gone for good, and he welcomed the anger as he began to plan how he would kill Ilinca.  

CHAPTER ONE

    Highlands, 1609

    Morvan exited her home and looked to the morning sky as she stretched. There was a nip in the air, a hint that autumn would soon arrive. She surveyed the wooded landscape around her and sighed with pleasure. There was nowhere else she would rather live. The trees helped to cut the wind during the harsh winters, but that’s not why she preferred the forest.
    Some called her magical.  
    Others called her cursed.
    All Morvan knew, was that the forest was her home. She understood the plants and animals. If that made her cursed, then she would gladly accept the mantle.
    She combed her fingers through her hair to push the heavy length out of her face, then quickly plaited it and tied it off with a strip of leather.
    “What is in store for me today?” she asked, her steps light and eager as she walked the short distance to the loch.
    The mountain was steep in places and the rocks many as she made her way down to the water. She stopped just before she left the trees when she saw a herd of red deer drinking on the opposite bank of the narrow strip of water.
    Morvan waited, taking in the sight of the impressive herd. They knew her scent, but she didn’t want to intrude. It wasn’t until the last of them had had their fill and trotted away that she continued to the loch.
    She sat against a grouping of rocks and pulled an oatcake out of her pocket. It was rare for her not to be at the loch first thing in the morning. As she ate her breakfast, Morvan contemplated the day.  
    Normally, there was a set area she would walk looking for animals that were in need of healing. Though the village thought her touched, there were those who didn’t hesitate to ask for her skills if one of their animals were sick.
    The day before had been spent at the miller’s tending to the injured hoof of one of his sheep. Perhaps it was that she had been kept from the woods by helping the miller that she felt