Casket of Souls Read Online Free PDF

it. Finally, what they’d come for. He quickly checked a few more in the bundle, just to be certain. Judging by what he read, the secret affair had been passionate; Marquise Lania was a very descriptive correspondent and had obviously been thoroughly infatuated with the much older duke. It hadn’t taken much effort to learn that a land deal hung in the balance between Lania’s soon-to-be husband, Marquis Deciel, and another noble. Reltheus wanted the land for himself and meant to use the letters to pressure her into persuading Deciel. It was typical of the endless intrigues and posturing among the Skalan nobility.
    Seregil pulled out another letter to check the date, but suddenly Alec grabbed him by the shoulder and propelled him out onto the moonlit balcony. Seregil understood and pressed himself to the wall outside the door, clutching the purloined letters as Alec silently pulled the door shut. An instant later light showed beneath it. Someone was talking, but too low to make out the words. No, there were two voices: a man and a woman. Had the kitchen maid been wrong, or had the duke come home early for some reason? He hoped Alec hadmanaged to get the secret compartment he’d found covered up again.
    Whatever the case, they were trapped. The balcony projected out over a deadly drop to the ocean below. The tide was low and there were rocks jutting up out of the foaming surge. If the tide had been in, Seregil might have chanced it as a last resort, but there would still have been the matter of getting Alec to jump. Picking him up and tossing him had worked in the past, but Seregil didn’t like doing it.
    The voices rose and fell inside, punctuated with laughter, then took on a decidedly amorous tone. Alec shook his head, then held up what appeared to be a letter.
    What is that?
Seregil signed.
    Alec handed him the letter. It was dated ten days ago, on the fifth of Gorathin, with the salutation “Your Majesty, Most Esteemed Aunt,” and signed, “Elani, Princess Royal of Skala.” He looked up at Alec and saw his triumphant grin. Seregil grinned back and held up thumb and finger, signing
Good!
    The letter itself was nothing particularly interesting, just the description of the young heir’s daily life—sword and archery practice, the gift of a new horse from a Marquis Kyrin, lessons with the royal falconer, the death of a favorite dog, mention of a letter from the potential suitor, Danos. The tone was very matter-of-fact, with little trace of girlish excitement. That struck him as rather sad, though not surprising. From what little he’d seen of Phoria’s closely guarded heir, she seemed like a very serious sort of girl.
    Never mind that, though. What was Reltheus doing with this? Seregil looked at it again with a critical eye. The handwriting looked more like a man’s than a young girl’s, and someone who was adept at fine writing. That suggested a few possibilities.
    There was no sign of a seal, either, so it was either a copy or a forgery, though it was puzzling that anyone would bother to forge such a prosaic letter.
    The sounds of lovemaking were building to a crescendo now, full of grunts and incoherent endearments. Seregilnudged Alec’s shoulder and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Alec rolled his eyes, shaking with silent laughter.
    The lovers came to what sounded like a mutually satisfactory conclusion and tapered off into panting moans and laughter. A happy couple, but who?
    After a few moments of silence the light went out and they heard the study door softly open and close. Seregil had barely gained his feet when the door beside him swung open and a burly young man strode out completely naked and apparently quite pleased with himself. He went to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the stone railing, humming a little tune under his breath. He was too young to be the duke, and the duke’s adult sons by his first wife were off at war. Probably a servant taking advantage of his master’s absence for