Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) Read Online Free PDF

sunlight, and made the whole area many times brighter, the canopy of evergreen trees overhead casting a lot of shadow this time of day.
    The house itself was large and looked new, being all in deep brown with a black slate roof. It was impressive, after a fashion. It could have been made to look like anything, but it was just a version of what Mayor Tom had across town, if bigger and with better windows. It took up most of the old horse clearing behind the real house. It wasn't a huge space to begin with, not compared to what they might have had, but it was enough. Most of the people in the capital would have thought it fine enough not to worry about what the neighbors thought. It could have been more, or set up to be easy for the public to see, but it hadn't been, since it was Two Bends and most people would have thought it a bit ostentatious as it was.
    There were steps going up into it and they looked and felt like wood, rather than stone, and the front door seemed to be made of oak, but the handle was a smooth brass and Terry didn't bother to knock first, meaning he was fairly comfortable with the whole idea. That could just be because of his age though. Kids adapted to new things fast.
    Inside it was well lit and smelled like dinner. Roasted meat, various spices and potatoes. Probably a lot more courses than most of the kids here would have expected, but to his surprise Tor didn't find his mother and other sisters all working in the kitchen. They were sitting in the front room, most of them looking nervous and like they wanted to jump up to help. One did jump up, his oldest sister, Terlee. She smiled at Timon and smothered Tor with a big hug.
    "S'Tor! I'd half thought you were avoiding me. Did you bring Tiera with you?" Her voice went low and sad on the words, and he had to shake his head no, but she didn't make him say anything yet. That was good, since his mother was there suddenly, looking about the same age Terlee was, if not slightly younger, staring at him.
    "I see you lived. Is that problem taken care of then? The assassins? Are they all dead?"
    Her gaze and words were just a little disapproving, but Tor decided to try and take the high road, ignoring that part of things.
    "No. I drove them back to Austra, or at least they should be headed that way. It's mainly Brown's problem now. If he can't, or won't, deal with them in some sensible fashion, then I can end this at any time now. It's part of what I built to remove them from Noram and the rest of the world. I'd rather not though, if possible. I don't want Denno to be mad at me for the next thousand years, you know? Bad enough..." He didn't mention the rest, but she knew what it was. He'd flown off the handle, thinking that Denno was trying to humiliate him and nearly killed the man over it. Instead of talking first or checking to see what the truth of the matter was. Tor hadn't thought his mother would be lying to him though, just to embarrass him.
    Who did that to their own child? Of course, the answer was, bitchy noble women. He just wasn't used to thinking of her that way. Not the noble part.
    Not the other either, until very recently. He hadn't really been able too, thanks to the controls that Burks had forced into his mind, to make him into an exact copy of the Count. That hadn't worked though, had it? Thankfully. It was a kind of slavery that was very hard to break out of, Tor knew. He still thought just about the same way as always anyway. It was who he was, after all was said and done.
    The difference being that now he had a real choice in the matter. Some at least.
    He could decide who he wanted to be. For the moment that meant being forgiving, even though he didn't really feel like it. Staying mad at Laurie forever wouldn't help anything and she was immortal too. That meant that grudges could have decades and centuries to grow if you didn't do something to stop them early.
    To that end he leaned in and gave her a small, very awkward hug, one that made