A Temptation of Angels Read Online Free PDF Page A

unrecognizable. It was only her eyes, so deeply blue she was often told they were violet, that were familiar.
    She stepped away from the glass, not wanting to see the hollowness in them, and began removing her nightdress. She left it on the floor, trying not to remember putting it on earlier in the evening. Trying not to remember her last moments at home.
    She was naked and shivering in the center of the room. It was strange to be without clothing in someone else’s home, and she crossed quickly to the copper tub, lowering herself into the still-hot water. Using a delicate bar of soap, she washed from head to toe. Once she had rinsed the soap from her skin and hair, she lay back against the tub. She closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment to let go of all that had happened, as the faint scent of roses drifted up from the steam.When her thoughts came back to her parents, to the men who had burned her home, she simply pushed them away. At the moment, denial was her only friend.
    Then, out of the rose-scented steam, she remembered something her mother had said in the frenzied moments before the door had closed on the hiding place in the wall.
    Join with Darius and Griffin. They will take you to Galizur.
    Helen’s eyes opened with the memory, and all at once, she was in denial no more.

FIVE
     
    I t took her a few minutes to dress and find the staircase leading to the main floor.
    The house was eerily quiet as she made her way through the halls. She was used to the rushed voices of her parents, the ticking of the grandfather clock, the scuffle of the servants above and below stairs. Even in the dark of night, her home had rarely been silent.
    Here, there was not a sound until she reached the bottom of the stairwell.
    Murmuring drew her down the hall to the library door. The marble was cold underfoot, but she was glad she had left her shoes behind. They would have made too much noise on the hard floor.
    The voices grew louder as she came closer to the library. She stopped just before reaching the doorway. The hall, spareand without furnishing or ornament, did not leave many places to hide. Glancing around, she settled for a deep shadow in the corner where the hallway met the entrance to what looked like the kitchen beyond.
    Aided by the utter silence of the house, she picked up snippets of conversation from the library.
    “She has the pendant. She’s one of us, Darius.
Why are you denying the obvious?”
    She could hear the frustration in Darius’s voice, even from afar. “
Because I don’t want it to be true. She’ll be nothing but a burden. She hasn’t even reached Enlightenment.”
    “It doesn’t matter. We have to protect her.”
    “We can hardly protect ourselves, Griffin. She would be safer in hiding while we find out who’s responsible.”
There was a shuffle from within the room, and she leaned farther back into the shadows, still listening as Darius continued.
“Let’s go see Galizur. He probably already knows, but we should be sure.”
    Boot steps sounded across the carpet, and she pressed as far back into the shadows as she could, holding her breath and willing herself to become invisible, yet again.
    The brothers crossed the threshold of the room, turning, and passing her without a glance. They did not head toward the front door but to the back of the house. She waited a fewseconds before following in their footsteps. She had never followed anyone before, but it seemed only wise to keep as much distance between them as possible.
    The click of the door somewhere beyond her line of vision freed her from the shadows, and she hurried through the doorway which did, indeed, lead to a cavernous kitchen. There was only one exit. She made her way to it with as much speed as possible. It would not do to lose the brothers in her worry over being caught following them.
    The door opened to the back of the house. She had the sense of a garden or grounds beyond, but it was too dark to make out anything other than