Blind Destiny: Grimm's Circle, Book 7 [retail mobi] Read Online Free PDF

needed some sleep. Turning back to the crew, she gave them a short nod. “Come on. Let’s head to the B&B. Maybe we can catch something scary happening there.”
    Halfway down the narrow road, she glanced back. One last look at the place…just one. She’d been waiting for this her whole life, it seemed. She couldn’t believe the moment was finally here. Centuries…
    She scowled, wondering where that odd thought had come from.

Chapter Four
    I’ve been trying to avoid this very moment my entire life.
    Standing atop the small knoll, I looked down over the lovely village of Kalo Horio. Good village…good village, my ass. It was the place of my nightmares.
    Just off in the distance, I thought I could make out the roof of the house where Despoina had lived. Why was it even still standing? I should have torn it down until it was nothing but rubble.
    Salted the earth. It was cursed.
    It was there in that very spot that the horror of my human life had unfolded. Where they had killed my child. Where I had killed them, seven women. I’d killed seven women, then ultimately myself.
    Blood stained it. Death. And now…madness. Her madness. Despoina’s taint had carried on even into death.
    Or perhaps it was mine.
    I could still hear their screams.
    And my own.
    I could still feel the blade.
    And I could hear Will’s voice—
    This is not the way…
    I’d never wanted to return here.
    The wind whistled through the air, a terribly lonely sound.
    Next to me, Luc stood patiently.
    The wind kept blowing my hair into my eyes and I reached for a band to hold it back. As I braided it into a long tail, I glanced back over at Luc. He had a hand on Krell’s head and looked unconcerned, unperturbed. “Have you ever had to do something you really, really didn’t want to do?” I asked him conversationally.
    “Yes.” Something shifted in those blue eyes. Something sad and somber.
    And I knew. I could have kicked myself, but I didn’t dare let him sense what I was thinking or feeling…no signs of regret, or jealousy. Couldn’t let him feel any of that, now could we?
    “Ah, yes,” I drawled, my voice light and mocking. “Your lovely princess. Letting her go had to be a bitch, even if she didn’t love you.”
    A muscle jerked in his jaw, but other than that, he gave no reaction. “Perci is finally happy, finally at peace. To me, that matters a great deal.”
    “That, Luc, is because you’re a bleeding saint.” Fighting the bitterness in my heart, I looked back at the town spread out before us, at the house where Despoina had died. All of it lay on tainted ground. It was black with the blood of evil, awful people…and blood I’d spilled with my own hands. “It’s a pity not all of us can be as good and true as you are.”
    He made me so aware of my own failings…yet, I didn’t hold it against him, didn’t hate it. Why was that?
    “I’m not a saint,” he said softly. “Letting her go was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But if I can’t give up my pride for the woman I once loved, what kind of man am I?”
    Then he brushed past me and started down the hill, his steps surefooted and true. Even after all of this time, his grace amazed me.
    Over his shoulder, he said, “If you want to wallow in your own self pity, have at it. I’m hungry.”
    Wallow ?
    Then the rest of what he said hit home.
    Give up my pride…
    And what in the hell had he meant…the woman he’d once loved?
    Did that mean he didn’t still love Perci?
    I could ask him.
    But then he might want to know why I wanted to know. And besides, he was already almost down the hill.
    Really, it was probably better if I didn’t ask.
    After all, no matter what the answer was, it wasn’t going to change things…was it?
     
     
    I caught up with him in a little outdoor restaurant. He was already chatting up the server. Very fluently. I frowned as I settled in the seat across from him. Of course he spoke the language well. He’d only been one of us