Conquests: Hearts Rule Kingdoms Read Online Free PDF Page A

freedom that it brought. Gazing down, she absentmindedly brushed and untangled her hair, humming a folk song that her mother had sung to her.
    As he walked, Melville could feel someone watching him, but was convinced that he had risen early enough to get a quiet ride to himself. He could not shake the feeling of being watched and halfway across the courtyard towards the stables, stopped. He turned slowly, but could see no one behind him. Then he looked up, and saw Avis.
    By God, she was beautiful. She stood there at the open window, allowing the sun’s meagre rays to illuminate her. He could feel her beauty affecting even him, a man who had decided that he would not desire this woman, and felt traitorous to his finer feelings. To have such a wife, to hold her, to know that none other had touched her in the way that he had – but no. She would be his wife in contract only, not in act.
    Avis had seen him. She looked down at him with no shame, or affectation of pretending that she had not noticed him. They gazed at each other, and the power of their mutual look stunned Avis. She had never expected to find a man who was so willing to match her, and yet this man obviously felt no shame in gazing up at her. Just as their look at the betrothal had taken her breath away, almost causing her to faint when she thought that he was going to reject her, so again his eyes snared her in a trap which she almost enjoyed. An emotion tugged at her heart that she did not recognise. The power of this feeling stunned her, and she withdrew, unsure why her heart was beating so powerfully.
    He was the enemy, she reminded herself. He was one of that army who came and destroyed everything you knew, everything you cared for. He will destroy you. If he doesn’t marry you first.
     
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Six
     
    A flurry of excitement filled and seeped into the manor. Today was the day that Avis and Melville were to be married. Excited preparations by the servants had culminated in an elegantly decorated Great Hall, covered in flowing silks and rose petals, with trestle tables buckling under platters and platters of lovingly prepared meats and glazed vegetables. Different sauces and stuffings were dotted about, and there was an abundance of fruit cascading down from red glazed vases. A variety of wines and ales were ready in caskets at one side of the hall, and goblets enough for all were stacked beside them. A man was tuning a gittern, a stringed instrument that was incredibly intricate and needed a highly skilled player. The musician had been brought in from the nearest town to play at the wedding. Three jugglers rehearsed near the top table, throwing small balls over the chairs in which Melville and Avis would be seated at the feast that evening. All was prepared. Richard nodded appreciatively as he crossed the hall. His servants had surpassed themselves. Everything was ready, and everyone was in their place. All except one.
    Melville was missing. The man who tended his horse had readied it extremely early in the morning as was his custom, but neither horse nor rider had been seen since. Richard was trying not to panic, but he knew that the King would not look well on him losing the groom. The servants had been doing their best to keep the fact that Melville had not been seen for hours from Avis all morning, who was wandering around the place in her bridal gown, unsure as to why her morning wedding had been postponed to the afternoon. After searching for her along the many corridors and chambers in the manor, Richard eventually caught up with her in a passageway.
    “Flaunting your wares this early in the morn?” He remarked snidely, grinning at the smooth skin on her shoulder that was just about made visible by the speed at which Avis was moving.
    She could smell his stale sweat, and she leant away from him – difficult in the confines of the corridor, but necessary if she was not going to gag.
    “Good morrow my lord,” she said stiffly.