A Knight With Grace: Book 1 of the Assassin Knights Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

off there and head west. We’re almost there.”
    Excitement soared within her. The fatigue and aches in her body disappeared and she was energized by anticipation. Finally! The horse suddenly seemed to be moving very slowly. The animal was just walking. Curtis wasn’t urging him into a cantor. How could he be so patient? She wanted to leap from the horse and race ahead. She shifted her position.
    Curtis chuckled. “Patience, little dove. We’ll have the rest of our lives to live there.”
    His voice sounded indifferent. Bitter, almost. She swiveled to look at him. “Aren’t you happy?”
    “Of course I am,” he said and smiled at her.
    The smile didn’t reach his eyes. She couldn’t help but notice his lack of enthusiasm. He seemed somehow distant. She couldn’t figure out what it was. She lay a hand on his arm. “I am truly thankful for you, Curtis.”
    “I know,” he said softly.
    She turned away from him to look at the bend in the road which grew closer and closer. She bowed her head. Maybe he had reason for reserve. “Curtis, have you thought about what would happen if my father’s men come looking for me here?”
    “Of course! You will hide. I will tell them that I am here alone, tending my lands.”
    She looked back at him, his warm eyes, his gentle and encouraging grin. He seemed to have thought this through. Perhaps she was wrong. Perhaps he was just as tired as she. Her gaze swept his face. It was clean shaven and rugged, confident. “I would never implicate you. If we are discovered, I would say I forced you to take me.“
    Curtis laughed. “And who would believe you?”
    Grace was quiet for a moment. A question nagged at her and she had to ask it aloud. “Why are you helping me, Curtis?”
    “I am your friend.”
    It was the way he said it. As if he had said a thousand times before. Just words. There was no feeling behind the words. She turned to look back at the road. It didn’t matter. She had escaped with Curtis and this would be her life now. “If you want to leave me here, I will understand.”
    “Leave you? Then who would protect you?”
    She looked back at him again and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
    His brows rose in surprise.
    “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”
    Curtis looked away to the side and the dirt of the road.
    “You’ve freed me,” Grace whispered.
    “Don’t be too certain. You’ll have to look over your shoulder all of the time. Pretend to be someone else. That’s not freedom, if you ask me.”
    Grace scowled at him. It certainly was better than the life her father had wanted for her with Sir William.
    Curtis guided the horse forward, turning off the main road, moving to the right.
    Grace didn’t see a path through the high stalks of grass.
    “I’ve taken this way many times when I was a boy,” Curtis said fondly. “The cottage is just ahead. Over that ridge.”
    Grace sat straight in the saddle, straining to see the building. She knew it wouldn’t be grand, but she imagined a sturdy structure with a small side garden. “You grew up here as a boy?”
    “Yes. My father and I. I used to play with my brother in these very fields.”
    “You have a brother? You never mentioned him.”
    “He left when I was five to find his way in the world. He sells his sword.”
    “A mercenary? Has he ever worked for my father?”
    “No. I haven’t seen him in years.”
    A brother. Strange, he had never mentioned him. But she had never asked. She looked ahead, searching for the cottage. “What type of games did you play with your brother?”
    He shrugged. “King and peasant, sometimes. Mostly knights. We would use sticks as swords.” He pointed ahead. “There. There it is.”
    Grace saw the thatched roof first. As they rode closer, she saw the rest of the building. It was a small, simple square structure. There was no door to the entrance leaving a gaping hole and darkness inside. The entire area was overgrown with weeds. It was clear no one had lived here