Highland Steel (Guardians of the Stone Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

blunt to inflict much damage, but at the very least, she could pluck out an eye.
    Placing the weapons back into Aveline’s garish chest, she closed the lid and rose to inspect the remainder of the room, peering into every nook and cranny. And because she wasn’t the sort to leave any stone unturned, she peered under the bed and found a small wooden box tucked away in the far corner. However, as the bed was far too low to the ground to crawl beneath, she couldn’t reach the box and decided to leave it for later. She came out from under the bed, brushing the palms of her hands on her clothes.
    Meanwhile, at her back, the water continued to beckon, steam dissipating in the chilly room. Clearly, they did not trust her enough to leave her with a brazier. Smart men, because Lael would use whatever means she could to regain her freedom, including burning down the keep.
    Get the girl a bath?
    Humph!
    She was not a bampot . She’d spied that look in the Butcher’s steel-gray eyes as he’d examined her there upon her knees. Why else would he have ordered a bath for her and the gaols for Broc unless he hoped to avail himself of her body? It was hardly likely that he’d ordered the bath out of the goodness of his big Butcher heart.
    Ach, well, she must admit he was not an unappealing man. In fact, with those piercing eyes, that chiseled face and fierce jawline, he could never be mistaken for a boy. The sight of him riding toward her with his sword raised and that black look in his steel-gray eyes had given her a terrible start—and yet for some odd reason, she did not truly fear him, not even when he’d swung that gargantuan blade toward her head. It was as though some voice inside had reassured that all would be well.
    Nevertheless, she would not fool herself into believing the man had a kindly bone in his body. If he thought for one instant that he could lay a finger on her without her permission, he was sorely mistaken.
    Reconsidering his purpose for placing her in this tower room, she retrieved the silver mirror from the chest wherein she’d put it, and then she slid the would-be weapon beneath the mattress where she could reach it if necessary. By the gods of her ancestors, he would not find her a willing victim, she vowed.
    Studiously ignoring the bath, she opened the shutters, examining the bars, measuring the space between each metal rod. Alas but escape through this window wasn’t possible—not unless she could somehow transform herself into the diminishing vapor rising from her tub.
    If she waited much longer, the water would be cold.
    Slamming the shutters in annoyance, she eyed the bath longingly, but it wasn’t until she considered the servants who’d carried up bucket after bucket of hot water that she finally submitted to temptation. If she didn’t use the bath now, she reasoned, it would be a waste of their efforts and their time. Besides, her joints were achy and her body felt bruised. Stripping quickly, she found a cut or two as she disrobed, which accounted for the blood upon her clothes. She sighed and shook her head over the mess she had become, and then she cast away her filthy garments and slid into the tub, wincing over the sting of her wounds.
     

     
    Hard-pressed to keep his thoughts from straying to the woman imprisoned in his tower, Jaime was nevertheless determined to finish a quick inspection of the grounds. The safety of his men was paramount. He would not risk their lives unnecessarily. He must know before he laid down his head for the night that Keppenach was secure.
    After a cursory inspection, he was left wondering how much of the damage was new and how much was due to neglect. The burnt buildings were casualties of the siege—if in fact it could be called that—but there were cracks in the curtain wall that couldn’t possibly have been made by the weapons employed here last night—naught more than incendiary arrows, swords and axes by all accounts.
    As far as he could tell, the fire