Dark Throne, The Read Online Free PDF Page A

selected to decorate her room. There was a ladder in there,
she recalled as well as a few boxes containing some of the
furniture she'd eventually use but there was nothing that would
make that noise.
    Unless . . . . one of
the window shutters had come loose. It seemed unlikely as there
wasn't even a breeze to cool down the hotter than hell temperatures
bathing Pennsylvania at that moment- more was the pity. If there
wasn't a breeze, there certainly wasn't a strong enough wind to
nudge at one of the shutters and tug it out of the
catch.
    Heather's hand touched the cool stone, her palm brushed
against the smooth surface, the heel grazed against one of the
crystal caves and the sensation tickled the sensitive
flesh . She jumped back as
though burned and jumped again, when the banging
continued.
    It sounded like . . .
.
    She shook her head, but Heather knew what it sounded
like . One of her next door
neighbors had been a pimp back in the city and the police had come
to arrest him. When he'd refused to leave the apartment, they'd
broken down his door.
    And the banging echoing around the
upstairs hallways sounded just like that.
    It couldn't possibly be and yet . . . . there was no other plausible explanation
either.
    Heather sucked in a breath, grabbed the doorknob, turned it
and opened it .
    Her eyes widened, then blinked and that was all the chance
she had .
    A
man appeared out of a vine-laden doorway and barreled through it and towards her. He seemed to
realize she wasn't a door a second too late. His body collided with
hers and she was pushed through the air as though she were nothing
more than a feather.
    She sailed upwards and landed with a
bang . If the descent hadn't
been painful enough, the man followed the same arc of motion and
managed to land on her right leg.
    Before she even had time to rub it, the man jumped upwards,
turned around and in a voice that seemed to be almost in
slow-motion, yelled, "No .”
    Heather's eyes darted from him to the object of his study
and she realized her bedroom door was closing .
    It shut with a resolute bang and only the sounds of the
stranger's breathing resonated around the hall .
    Silence reigned for a few moments, before pique began to
rustle along Heather's nerves .
    Who the hell was this man ?
    What was he doing in her bedroom and
how had he managed to cover it with vines of all things?
    "Are you a squatter?"
    It seemed to be the only possibility even if it was impossible and Heather was quite pleased with her line of
thought- better that than insane ideas. Heather didn't even want to
question where those vines had come from or why her plasterboard
walls had suddenly turned into those belonging to a
castle.
    She was less pleased, when the man spun around, his
attention very firmly on her .
    It was only when his eyes caught hers, that Heather
realized she didn't want his attention on her .
    Unfortunately, it was far too late for
that.
    Before she knew it, Heather found herself in a
chokehold . His forearm was
covered with some kind of gauntlet and the metal bit into her flesh
and nearly crushed her windpipe. He'd already reduced the amount of
air she could inhale to a slither and her lungs were starting to
burn in reaction.
    Her attempts to cry out were pathetic . Mumbled garbles that he put a halt to, simply
by pressing his forearm all the harder against her throat. Her
entire being went into panic. He didn't seem to be doing anything
apart from choking her. He wasn't trying to rape her, she could see
a knife in his hand but he wasn't pressing it against her throat
and he didn't seem intent on stealing anything.
    Why the hell was he here?
    The thought was the only thing floating about her oxygen
starved brain .
    She clawed at his arm, but it was
useless . The metal glove did
more damage to her than him and from the sudden dampness of her
hands, she realized she'd cut something because it was quite
evidently blood.
    Her mind's eye conjured up the split second image she had
of her