A Birthright of Blood (The Dragon War, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her brow, her
green eyes that were always so haughty and teasing, her pink lips and
their crooked smile, her body clad in leather and steel, and
mostly… mostly her power.
    With his wife fallen, her father
was beyond his reach. Lord Herin Blackrose, lord of the Axehand
Order, would no longer serve him.
    His love. His fort. His power.
His face.
    "You took them all from me,
twin sister," he whispered and tasted his tears. "You will
hurt so much when I find you. You will scream so loudly."
    He stumbled through the city
streets, holding alley walls for support. The smell of frying onions
rose from one brick house, invading his nostrils like poison. Leresy
fell to his knees, crawled toward a ditch, and retched. He had eaten
only scraps all day; he now lost them.
    He righted himself, wiped his
lips on his sleeve, and kept walking. His father would be furious to
see him, a prince of the realm, stumbling alone through the darkness.
Princes should march ahead of brigades, soldiers and might
surrounding them. Leresy smirked and tightened his cloak around him.
    Anything
that upsets you, old man, is good.
    Finally he saw his new fortress
in the distance, a shard of black rising from a dark square. A
thousand legionaries served in Castellum Tal, a milanx of
battle-hardened men. Leresy snorted.
    Men! Who wanted to serve with a
thousand sweaty, hairy, disgusting men? Back at Castra Luna in the
south, Leresy had commanded thousands of youths, half of them soft
females only eighteen years old and frightened. So many beauties had
served him—Tilla Roper with her pale cheeks, that scrawny friend of
hers with the short brown hair, and so many others to conquer.
    Leresy stood in the night,
staring up at his new home, at this pathetic little tower with its
wretched milanx hidden inside. This was no place for him. This was
no fortress for a prince. Yet his father, the bastard, had insisted.
    "I demand another training
fort!" Leresy had shouted at court, his eyes stinging. "I
will break in recruits. I—"
    The emperor had only snorted,
glaring down from his throne.
    "I'll not have my son
whoring his way through the Legions," Frey Cadigus had said.
"Do you want to train female youths or bed them?"
    "Father!" Leresy had
cried. "I will train them. I trained the last recruits and—"
    "And we saw how that
ended," Frey spat. "You commanded a fort for only three
moons, and it crumbled. You had a chance to mold youths into
soldiers, and you proved yourself weakest among them." He
snorted. "My Legions are not your brothel, boy. You will no
longer serve among women; they have softened you. You will serve
among men now, hardened warriors who've slain enemies in battle.
Maybe they'll teach you to be a man too."
    Leresy walked across the
courtyard, reeling from side to side. When he reached the tower, he
banged upon the doors.
    "Let me in, bastards!"
he howled, pounding. "This is your prince. Let me in, sons of
whores!"
    The sound of laughter, howls,
and song wafted from behind the doors. Leresy pounded with more
vigor.
    "Open these doors," he
shouted, voice hoarse and slurred, "or I'll flay you all and
make cloaks from your skin!"
    Finally the guards pulled the
doors open, and Leresy stumbled into his new tower.
    The grand hall swam before him,
a cavern of light and sound. Soldiers banged mugs upon tabletops,
singing hoarsely. A few were so deep in their cups, they were
dancing upon the tables, kicking off plates and mugs. Roasted boars
and jugs of wine lay everywhere. Two stray dogs ran between legs,
and three whores squealed, clutching silks to their naked bodies and
fleeing pursuing men.
    "Bring me wine!"
Leresy demanded, marching deeper into the hall. His boots stumbled
over discarded turkey bones, smashed mugs, and a drunken soldier who
lay gurgling. "Wine, sons of dogs, and lots of it!"
    When he had taken command of
this fortress, it had been a dull, dreary place, its men automatons
who knew only to march, drill, and shout "Yes, Commander!"
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