Call of the Raven Read Online Free PDF Page A

different. Those who lived in the house were used
to them, but it was obvious his strange eyes frightened her.
    “The weather has nothing to do with you
canceling the Pillar Council meeting and you know it. I saw you
through the window of the guesthouse walking toward the woods. Ari
told me what you do every year on the anniversary of Grant’s death.
You still don’t accept the fact that Grant’s dead, do you
Asher?”
    “No, I do not and if that proceeds to add to
what people already believe about me then so be it.” Leading her to
his office, Asher took a key from his robe pocket, slid it into the
lock and stepped inside. He allowed her to enter and then shut the
door behind him. The door shut easily but the added kick causing it
to slam shut was for her nerves alone. Startled, she shot him an
annoyed look. Asher gestured to a chair before the fireplace.
    “Relax Linn, I have no plans to molest you,”
he taunted. Linn didn’t appear any less worried. “It seems we need
to have a chat, you and I…so sit and warm yourself.”
    Asher walked to the fireplace, opened the
doors and tossed another log on the burning flames. He had not
failed to notice the look that washed over her features before he
turned his back to her, and that look was unmistakably…dread. “But
first, I need to take care of another matter of
irritation.”
    Neat stacks of folders were boxed together on
Asher’s desk like a maze, and in the center, where his cellphone
had once sat, were several tiny black footprints. The footprints
were made when the clumsy rat accidentally stepped on the inkpad
that Asher deliberately had left open, and they were all the proof
he needed. The cellphone was the fourth one to come up missing in
the last month. Picking up a letter opener, Asher looked about the
room and out of the corner of his eye he caught the look of
surprise on Linn’s face.
    “Linn, it’s not intended for you. Somewhere
in this room is a hole just large enough for a twelve-year-old
rebellious child in rat form to squeeze through, and I intend on
finding it. I told Ari just this morning that I thought I heard my
phone ringing and now I know I wasn’t hearing things. Well…at least
not this time.”
    “Even if that is true they’re just
children.”
    “Well they’re not my children,” Asher
said bluntly.
    “You’re a Lake. Just as they are adopted into
the Pillar family so are you, and whether you like it or not they
are left in your care. You’re the Keeper. You’re supposed to watch over them and protect them, not try to hunt them
down like some heathen lunatic. Haven’t you ever tried spending
time with them?”
    He wasn’t giving up, just postponing the
search since Linn had taken the fun out of the hunt. Tossing the
letter opener upon the desk, Asher walked to his favorite chair
positioned before the fire, and dropped into it. He threw his feet
on the matching footstool and turned his eyes upon the flames.
    “I do not love,” he said.
    Linn moaned. “Yes, Asher I know your vow
never to love but that doesn’t mean you can’t feel.”
    “Oh I feel things.” Asher said. “I’m just not
sure they’re beneficial to the children.”
    “Asher it’s your duty as both Keeper
and the wolf to look after them.”
    “Yes Linn, so I’ve been told so you can stop
with the annoying emphasis, besides it’s time we progress beyond
this particular conversation.”
    “What about Ari, have you heard from
him?”
    Asher rolled his eyes. “You’re deflecting the
matter at hand but since you asked, sometimes when he knows the
weather is bad he stays at the Plaza and sometimes he stays
there for other reasons.”
    “You mean when he schedules a night with his
newest blond secretary?”
    “My brother does seem to have a healthy appetite for
secretaries but I can’t say that I blame him. I’ve seen her.” Asher boldly eyed Linn appraisingly, noticing the
fact she was in her gown and a very unattractive matronly one at
that. In