By Vengeance Guided (The Lost Shrines Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

was coming out."
    She told Nel about the entire encounter. And how, ever since, he'd been hinting at a permanent, romantic liaison. "Last night, at dinner, he whispered that he wished it was just the two of us. I've been doing my best to ignore him, but I don't think he's going to give up."
    "Doesn't that fool understand the repercussions? He's the one who talked your sister into signing the betrothal agreement. Doesn't he understand what's at stake?"
    "Obviously not. Or he never would have convinced her to hand me over like a prize pig in the first place. I have to wonder if she was already ill to have been foolish enough to go along with it."
    "Your sister, Goddess hold her soul, was a love-sick passion-blind fool. Eager to prove her marriage was nothing like the cold business arrangement your parents’ had been. She only saw the handsome hero and not the self-absorbed idiot. She was too afraid of becoming the ball-busting shrew your mother was, she gave into Gui's every whim. Of course, no one in the valley ever saw that side of her. She kept it hidden behind the prim façade. Now they see you trying to pick up the mess she left and blame you for it."
    Lia didn't want to think about that anymore. Unfortunately, it was all she had been thinking, trying to figure a way out of it for the past six months.
    With an unladylike snarl, Lia gave vent to her frustration. "We are a tiny little minnow of land surrounded by three giant sharks. The only thing that has kept us from getting gobbled up is the fear they have of each other. The second one hints at moving closer to our borders, the other two bristle in response. If Daen gets a claim by marrying me, even if it's only temporary, while I'm regent, our land will become a blood-drenched battlefield."
    Lia wanted to get up and pace but the confines of the carriage hemmed her in.
    "I have six months left of official mourning before he's going to insist on a wedding. If I can't untangle this mess my sister left, I will be the last Handmaiden to guide the valley."
    She reached out and stroked Tanis's golden curls. "That's if he gives me six months. His letters have been more pointed about specific dates and details. I don't know how much longer I can hold him off from a formal visit. Once the betrothal agreement becomes common knowledge, we're doomed."
    Nel leaned forward and placed a soothing hand on Lia's knee. "You're smart. And a fighter. For all your quirks, you care about the valley and its people. You will find a way to get through this."
    "I hope so. If anyone finds out what we're really protecting here, it could plunge the whole world into chaos and war."

    *****

    Caerwyn maneuvered through the streets of the village attempting to find work and gossip. Unfortunately, he fared poorly in both endeavors. The rest of the town's people were even less inclined to speak to a stranger than the taciturn tavern keeper who had charged him far more than a night in a country inn should have cost. Especially for a room the size of a broom closet. Just one of many small slights the village used to discourage strangers from lingering.
    If he couldn't find work, he had no idea how he was going to explain his continued presence in the tight-knit community. If he couldn't get anyone to talk to him, he'd never find the answers he needed to take down Hafgan or his minions.
    By late afternoon, in frustration and desperation, he'd taken to using his enhanced senses to eavesdrop in hopes of learning something useful. Anything. He just needed to know if he was wasting his time on a wild goose chase or the so-called Handmaiden of the valley was involved in sorcery of any kind.
    Outside the herbalist's shop, he learned anyone not responding to the elderly widow's tinctures and balms was sent to the Lady's manor house for “healing.” Then, near the blacksmith stables, he overheard one farmer tell another he needed to get the Handmaiden out to his fields for a “blessing” since his crops were