Chained (Chained Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

are,” he hissed, his fingers flexing at his sides as if he wished to strangle the life from her. “Consider yourself fortunate to have that bow,” he growled, his nostrils flaring. “Without it, you’re just another useless woman. It doesn’t make us equals, and it doesn’t make you stronger. If you can’t kill me with that arrow, you can be sure I’ll tear you limb from limb with my bare hands.”
    Gwen lifted her chin a regal inch and drew back on the bow’s string. “You are right,” she said imperiously. “It does not make us equals. Nothing can do that, for I am far better than you can ever hope to be. You dare to attempt rape and murder on my father’s lands, and for that you will suffer the consequences.”
    He spat, and the offending spittle found her cheek, dribbling down toward her neck. Gwen fumed, but did not flinch. “Fuck you,” he ground out from between clenched teeth. “And fuck your bloody father.”
    “In the name of Lord Clarion Toustain, High Lord of Dinasdale and Warden of the North,” she began, ignoring the spittle running down her cheek, “I hereby sentence you to death. May the gods find cause to torture your wretched soul for all eternity.”
    With that, she released the arrow, her jaw c lenching in grim satisfaction when it pierced his neck and disappeared beneath the line of his jaw. The large man fell to his knees, gurgling as blood spilled from his mouth and stained his bushy beard. With a snarl, Gwen placed her foot on the man’s chest and pushed, toppling him over onto his side. She swiped at her cheek with the sleeve of her kirtle, shuddering as she mopped the dead man’s saliva from her face and neck.
    Moving from body to body to retrieve her arrows, Gwen studied each man more closely. They dressed plainly, in black gambesons, and leather breeches and boots, though they were without armor or adornment. She knelt beside the last body, frowning as silver winked at her from the grass beside him. It was a pin, she realized, her eyes widening as she lifted it and used her thumb to wipe the mud from its surface.
    “The mountain of Maignart,” she whispered, staring down at the brown enameled pin that had fallen from the man’s gambeson. Her fingers closed around the brooch as she stood, slipping it into the small pouch at her hip. There, amongst the herbs she’d been gathering, the pin would remain until the opportune time. To show it to her brothers now would cause them to fly into a blind rage, as men were wont to do when faced with such evidence. Her brothers were the worst when it came to such behavior, and this required a delicacy that was unknown to them.
    Once she’d retrieved her arrow s, she reached for the ivory horn hanging over her shoulder and blew, one long, high note to alert the rest of their hunting party. Gwen had been separated from them far too long, and she knew they’d be worried. Besides, she needed someone to dispose of the bodies for her. An answering horn blast called back to her, and Gwen countered their call with another of her own. It continued, the concert of horns, until the answering notes grew closer. Then, her four brothers came thundering into the clearing, surrounded by pages, squires, and a handful of knights. Evrain, the eldest, led them as he rushed forward, his wide eyes filled with worry at the sight of her, blood staining her surcoat and sleeves of her kirtle.
    “ Gwendolyn!” he cried, grasping her arms and looking her over from head to toe. “Are you hurt?”
    She shook her head. “Of course not, let me go.” She shrugged from his hold and swept her arm out over the dead men littering the ground around her. “As you can see, I am quite capable of taking care of myself.”
    Evrain frowned as he surveyed her kills. “We hunt for boar and quail, our sister hunts men. How very appropriate.”
    Gwen wrinkled her nose at him. “Rapists,” she argued. “I caught them terrorizing a woman who had no one to defend