A Soul For Chaos (The Soulbearer Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

papers. “I’m sending a regiment of the Royal Guard to Boznac with them, so don’t get any ideas of kidnapping her.” He dismissed Kell with a flick of his hand.
    Kell bowed and left the room. As he wandered the corridors of the palace, he formed a new plan. Perhaps it was time Ranello sent a diplomatic envoy to Empress Marist of Gravaria.
     

Chapter 4
     
    Arden pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and stared at the palace doors. Her breath billowed out in front of her, creating a cloud of white smoke in the icy air. Seconds ticked by, marked by the shaking of her horse’s head. But Kell still hadn’t appeared.
    Dev tugged on her reins. “Let’s go.”
    “Just a few more minutes, please.” What was taking him so long?
    “We’ve waiting long enough.” His voice softened. “He’s not coming.”
    Arden’s chin quivered, and her eyes stung. After all his declarations of affection, after all the time Kell spent wooing her, she couldn’t believe he wouldn’t at least say goodbye to her.
    “If you hadn’t been such a frost maiden to him, perhaps he wouldn’t be absent now.”
    “And what is that supposed to mean, Loku?”
    “You know exactly what I mean. A man wants a woman who returns his affections, not one who’s afraid to acknowledge her own desires.”
    Her throat tightened, though more from anger than grief now. Was Kell avoiding her because she refused his bed too many times?
    A sympathetic look from Dev confirmed her suspicions. “It’s time to go, Arden.”
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as though she could exhale her pain with it. Dev was right. It was time to go. Lingering here only prolonged her suffering. She nodded to Ortono, the new Captain of the Royal Guard, and kicked her horse forward.
    As they passed through each of Trivinus’s successive gates, she kept hoping she’d turn around and see Kell galloping toward them, begging her to stop. That hope died when they’d crossed the final portcullis and set out on the road toward Boznac, her horse flanked Dev’s and Ortono’s.
    It was midday before she found her voice again. “Do you think I’m frigid, Dev?”
    He made a noise that sounded like a cross between a cough and a laugh. “That’s not a word I would associate with you, Trouble.”
    Irritation prickled her spine. “When are you going to stop calling me that?”
    “When you stop living up to that name.” He continued staring straight ahead, his face concealed by his hood. “Why did you ask me that? Did that little princeling insult you because he couldn’t get what he wanted?”
    “No, he didn’t.”
    He turned toward her, his brows drawn together. “Then why would you think you’re frigid?”
    “Because—” She noticed the members of the Royal Guard riding around her and caught herself. They didn’t need to know about Loku.
    Thankfully, Dev knew whom she was talking about. “Frigid usually means devoid of emotion. You, on the other hand, are hot-headed, stubborn, and defiant to the point where I question your common sense.”
    “ Aw, isn’t he being romantic, my little Soulbearer. ” Loku laughed.
    Arden snapped her shoulders back. “If anyone’s insulting me, it’s you.”
    “You asked for my opinion.” A hint of a smile played on his lips before he faced forward again, and her heart skipped a beat the way it always did when she got a glimpse of his lighter side.
    “Then I’ll remember that should I feel the urge to ask for it again.” And try to ignore how handsome he was when his serious façade cracked. His green eyes had taken her breath away the first time she saw them, and the sunlight made his dark auburn hair glow like embers under a blacksmith’s bellows. He rode with an easy grace, the lean muscles of his thighs rippling in time with his horse’s stride. Just watching him stirred up those complicated emotions she’d wanted to forget since the day he told her there could be nothing between them.
    The steady drip of