Immanuel's Veins Read Online Free PDF

promise to Her Majesty, offensive. So I forced the interest aside and proceeded with sincerity.
    â€œThen you’re not jealous?” I asked.
    â€œOf what?”
    â€œPrecisely. I’ve always tried to understand what women find so appealing about that boy.” What was I saying?
    â€œEverywhere we go, they seem to fall all over him. He would never pass up the opportunity to be the life of the party, which he manages like a well-wound clock. Not to mention he’s a war hero, skilled beyond belief with that sword of his. I trust him like a brother and would put my life in his judgment any day.”
    â€œSo then, you’re jealous,” she said. Strands of her dark hair curled around her face like adoring fingers.
    â€œI stand in jealousy of all things better than I, so that I might better myself.”
    â€œAnd do you also look for ways to dismiss one woman for another?”
    As you think Alek has dismissed you , I almost said. I was right. She had indeed seen something in Alek that pulled at her heart. I could see it in her eyes and it bothered me.
    â€œI think my sister will like him,” she said. “If she can pull herself away from that Stefan fellow.”
    We spent the next fifteen minutes walking around the mansion, and at every turn I had to remind myself that my awkward attraction to her was only natural, considering her beauty. I had pushed the trivial pursuit of women from my mind so many times for the sake of honor that my thirsty heart was only drinking out of instinct. There was nothing else to it.
    She took me to the tower, and from there she pointed out the property boundaries by moonlight. In my need to remain focused, I must have asked her a hundred questions regarding the comings and goings of servants, the proximity of towns and estates, all things pertaining to any potential threat.
    None surfaced. But they rarely do before their time.
    As I stood by the wall that circled the tower, looking over the grounds, my eyes were secretly and repeatedly drawn back to Lucine. To her dark brown hair cascading over her shoulders. To her neck and her gown, to the curve of her mouth and her small nose. I prayed she did not catch my eyes shifting about.
    â€œI don’t really care for horses,” she said, resting her hands on the stone wall. Then she caught herself. “Does that bother you?”
    â€œNo. Why would it?”
    â€œYou’re cavalry. Horses are your precious friends. I’m sure I should love them.”
    â€œBut they don’t routinely save your life as they do mine,” I said.
    â€œYou see?” She turned her light brown eyes to meet mine. “I have no right.”
    â€œNonsense. You can’t love something because it saves my life. What does my life matter to you? I don’t mean to suggest that you seem like the type who doesn’t care if others live or die. People like me. I mean to say I’m sure you value people like me a great deal.”
    She didn’t respond.
    â€œAfter all, we save the world,” I said. “Not that we deserve any special attention for our sacrifice. Or that what we do is really even a sacrifice. I’m just saying.”
    She responded after a pause, eyes still on mine. “And what are you saying?”
    Finally I found some sanity. “That you are free to like or dislike horses as far as I’m concerned. Not that my opinion matters to you.”
    I think I saw her lips curve into a slight smile. I can’t be sure because I was dizzy with my own foolishness. She pointed to the trees and made a remark that I missed about pines.
    She could have been the plainest of creatures and I would have felt the same because her spirit was that of an angel’s. I was drawn to her values and kindness, her honesty, and the ease with which she led me around, unencumbered by the social pressures waiting beneath us.
    She led me down the stairs from the tower, and I could hardly ignore the