Her Knight's Quest: A Warriors of the Mist Novel Read Online Free PDF

relatively unchanged from one calling to the next no matter how long the Damned had been gone from the world.
    As soon as the abbess quit speaking, young girls began weaving in and out of the tables with large trays of bread and cheese. They were followed by older women carrying large tureens of something that smelled delicious.
    Rubar immediately reached for the ladle to fill his plate. “Sister Margaret is a most talented cook. On our last trip through, I tried to talk her into teaching me the secret of her venison stew. She shooed me out of her kitchen, flapping her apron at me as if I were a gaggle of geese.”
    Then the guard grinned. “If she didn’t wield her cleaver like a weapon, I might have tried to force the issue. I’m hoping to bribe her with a new spice I picked up this year.”
    One taste of the savory meat and vegetables, and Duncan could see why Rubar would risk breaching the walls of Sister Margaret’s kitchen. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten something so delicious.
    As one of the Damned, most of the time Duncan marched out of the river straight into battle. Meals were eaten on the run; cold meat, cheese, a bit of hot tea or cheap wine were their usual fare. He sometimes forgot that food could be something to savor.
    Life’s greatest pleasures had been missing from their lives for centuries, but that seemed to be changing. It was unsettling for them all. Captain Gideon had found love with the woman they’d been ordered to champion by their gods. Even Murdoch, the most serious of the five warriors, seemed enamored with Lady Alina, Merewen’s young widowed aunt.
    Duncan’s gaze strayed to the head table and the woman sitting there. She was quite striking. He could see she was engaged in a discussion with the trader and his wife. What were they telling her about him? When she happened to glance in his direction, her smile faltered. Rather than give her cause for concern, he immediately averted his eyes and concentrated on finishing his meal.
    Odd, but the stew no longer had much flavor.
    But even when he wasn’t looking at the abbess, he couldn’t quit thinking about her. Had she chosen to serve the gods, or had they chosen her? The woman looked awfully young to bear the burden of running an abbey of this size. But then, he hadn’t been much older when he’d made his own vow to serve the Lord and Lady, a pledge he couldn’t walk away from even if he’d wanted to.
    With that cheery thought, he finished his wine and then reached for more.

Chapter 4
     
    O nce again a movement in the far corner of the room had drawn Lavinia’s eye. Rubar and several of Musar’s drivers and guards were preparing to leave. Rather than filing out through the door toward the guest quarters, Rubar and another man broke off from the others and walked straight toward the head table.
    Duncan said something, but Rubar didn’t respond. She frowned. There was something strange about the way Rubar and the other guard moved; they appeared stiff and awkward, yet purposeful. They split up, each taking a different route between the tables but clearly heading toward Lavinia and her guests.
    As she watched, Rubar stumbled into one of the young novices as if he hadn’t seen her standing right there in front of him. Normally, he would’ve said something, at least a quick apology, but instead he shoved past the girl without saying a word.
    Did he need to speak to his employer? She started to say something to Musar, but he was caught up in a conversation with his eldest son. She’d wait until he was finished to point out that his men might be in need of his attention.
    Duncan followed in Rubar’s footsteps, his face set in a grim expression as he stalked after the guard. By the time Rubar had reached the front of the room, the second guard had moved up beside him. Both men stared at Lavinia with the oddest expression on their faces as they came around the end of the table to where she was seated.
    Feeling at a