A Little Fate Read Online Free PDF Page B

mount sedately toward her.
    â€œYes, I see them. And more at the city gates. He will have a personal guard as well, others at the castle gates. Some will slip away once Lorcan is dead, some will certainly join our cause. But others will fight. We’ll need to know the castle, every foot of it. Gwayne’s drawings are a start, but it’s likely Lorcan has changed some of it over the years.”
    â€œOn the sweat and blood of the people,” Rohan agreed. “Building fine rooms and thicker walls.” He had to remind himself not to spit. “However fine the gilt, he’s turned the City of Stars into the pit of a snake.”
    â€œAnd I will bury him in it.”
    She fixed a bored expression on her face, and watched everything, as they rode through the gates of the city.
    Â 
    I N the stables, Thane groomed the roan mare. He worked alone, and the work was endless. But he was used to that, to the aching muscles, the weary bones at the end of the day.
    And he had come to prize his solitude.
    He loved the horses. That was his secret. If Owen and Lorcan knew he enjoyed them, they would cast him out of the stables and the dim quiet that brought him some measure, at least, of peace. They would find him other drudgery, he thought. It pleased them to do so. He was used to that as well.
    He’d learned as a very young boy to keep his words and his opinions to himself, to do his work, expect nothing—unless it was the heel of a boot in the ass. As long as hecontrolled his temper, his fury, his hatred, he had the gift of alone.
    And those he loved were safe.
    The mare blew softly as he ran a hand over her silky neck. For a moment, Thane laid his cheek to hers, shut his eyes. He was exhausted. Dreams plagued him, night after night, so that he woke hot and hard and needy. Voices and visions ran through his head and gave him no answers, and no relief.
    Even his light, his love, brought a strange restlessness to him.
    He could not war, could not find peace, so there seemed nothing for him but hours of work.
    He stepped away from the mare, ran a hand through his unruly black hair. He would have gone to the next mount, but something stirred in his belly, a kind of hunger that had nothing to do with desire for food.
    He felt his heart thudding in his chest as he walked past the stalls, toward the stable entrance, where the light fell like a curtain of gold.
    He lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the glare and saw her, his vision, mounted on a white stallion. Blood roared into his head, made him giddy as he stared.
    She was smiling, her lashes downcast. And he knew—he knew the eyes they hid were gray as smoke. Dimly, he heard her voice, heard her laugh—how well he knew that voice, that laugh—as she offered Owen her hand.
    â€œServants will see to your horses, my lady . . .”
    â€œI am Aurora, daughter of Ute of the westland. My father sends his regrets for not accompanying me to honor you, Prince Owen. He is unwell.”
    â€œHe is forgiven for sending such a jewel.”
    She did her best to work up a flush, and fluttered her lashes. He was handsome, with the look of a young, golden god. Unless you looked in his eyes, as she did. There was the snake. He was his father’s son.
    â€œYou flatter me, sir, and I thank you. I must beg your indulgence. My horses are precious to me, I fear I fret overthem like a hen over chicks. I’d like to see the stables, if you please, and speak with the grooms about their care.”
    â€œOf course.” He put his hands around her waist. She didn’t stiffen as she wished to, but smiled prettily as he lifted her down.
    â€œThe city is magnificent.” She brushed a hand over her headdress as if to fuss it into place. “A country lass like myself is awed by so much”—she looked back at him now deliberately provocative—“glamour.”
    â€œIt dulls before you, Lady Aurora.” Then he turned,