A Pirate's Revenge (Legends of the Soaring Phoenix) Read Online Free PDF

a lie. Her. But she was telling the truth. She’d lecture them on the difference between the white and dark arts if she thought it would do any good. But one thing she’d learned back in France was that people clung to their ideas, wrong or right, and nothing could change their suspicious minds. 
    Doc examined William’s wound. “’Tis deep. We need to stop da bleedin’. I need somethun to clean da wound.”
    Kane took off his white shirt and handed it to Doc. “Here.”
    Doc grabbed the shirt and ripped it into strips. “Ronan, da ground is damp. Go into da cave an’ see if there’s water.”
    Ronan took a strip of the shirt and disappeared into the darkness.
    Mariah stroked William’s scales, bloodying her hands again, but she did not care. The poor winged devil was in pain. “You are going to heal. Grand-mère has foreseen it.”
    Kane and Sean exchanged wary glances as if Grand-mère was a charlatan, and Mariah wanted to scream.
    “He’ll be well,” Doc said. “He’s done had worse injuries than this.”
    William snorted.
    Ronan reappeared with a wet calico. “There’s a small stream just around the corner.”
    “Good,” Doc said. He took the cloth and patted William’s wound. Blood drenched the fabric. “Thread da needle,” Doc said.
    Mariah nodded and followed his order, then wrapped her arms around William’s thick neck and leaned her head against his cheek. “They are going to help you.”
    William sighed and nuzzled against her throat.
    “Go ahead, Doc,” she said.
    “I’m not sure this needle can pierce his hide,” Doc said.
    “It will, Doc,” Mariah said. “’Tis enchanted.”
    Doc pushed the needle into the beast’s tough hide. William jerked, and Mariah hung onto him tight. He trembled beneath her as Doc stitched his wound. “I have you, William,” she whispered.
    “There, all done,” Doc said.
    Mariah slowly released William. He laid his head in her lap, and she stroked the ridges of his brow bone. His eyes closed.
    Kane clasped Doc’s shoulder. “He’ll heal?”
    “Aye, he should. I done never worked on a giant lizard before. Mornin’ will tell.”
    Ronan frowned. “Lass, you’re a bloody mess. Go yonder to the stream where you can have some privacy.”
    She glanced at her white dress, now soaked in blood with splatters of red drenching her sleeves. She was a walking corpse.
    Doc nodded. “He’s asleep. Go ahead and wash up, lass. I’ll stay with him an’ see that nothin’ happens.”
    She shook her head. “ Je vais bien, merci . I do not want to wake him.”
    Kane stared at her. “He trusts you.”
    “ Quoi? How do you know this?”
    “I’m his brother, and he wouldn’t let me near him, but you…He even allowed you to rip out the arrow.” His eyes glowed, casting a red glare onto his features. “Did you put a spell on him before we got here?” he asked, his voice harsh.
    She stopped petting William and stiffened. “No, I did not, Capitaine .”
    “Ah,” he said. But his doubtful expression sent shivers down the back of her neck.
    “Believe what you want.” She lowered her head, her hair blocking Kane’s pinched face. She returned to stroking William. He nuzzled into her lap, and she was surprised that he no longer terrified her. ’Twas like petting her dog, Solstice, a spaniel. Except William was ten times the size of her dog. What was it about petting him that soothed her? She liked the feel of his smooth scales, his breath on her lap and his charred scent. She yawned and leaned back against the cave wall.
    “Lass,” Doc said.
    “ Oui ?”
    “We’ve got to feed,” he said.
    The memory of the prostitute collapsed in the capitaine’s arm, blood running down her white neck, sent Mariah’s heart galloping in fear. She sat upright and covered her throat. “ Quoi? ”
    “Not on you,” Kane said. He nodded to his crewmen. “You three go.”
    Sean frowned. “But Capt’n…”
    “I shan’t leave my brother alone.”
    Mariah glared. He