INBORN (The Sagas of Di'Ghon) Read Online Free PDF

registering Keriim inching closer to an unsuspecting Elycia. Thaniel cringed at the thought that he would be the diversion the brute used to snatch her away.
    Keriim flashed Thaniel a smile.
    “No.” Thaniel croaked, evoking an even heavier knee in his back.
    At the last second Elycia flinched away from his grasp, letting out a ragged squeak in the process. Keriim surged forward, a hand outstretched for Elycia’s shoulder.
    “First.” Irkhir’s sharp tone startled the entire hallway. Heads snapped in his direction. The massive leader of the First stepped forward, eyes narrowing as he took in every inch of them. “The Caller and his kiss,” Irkhir inclined his head in Elycia’s direction as he continued, “are both under my protection. If any of you has business with either of them, it stops here.” His eyes went from man to man, stopping at Keriim.
    “Get the Ontar.” Irkhir snapped, directly at Keriim. “Tell her that the Caller has returned.” Irkhir’s tone was sharp. Instructions meant to be obeyed. “Run.” He roared at the man.
    Keriim ’s eyes daggered into Thaniel’s before he grunted and spun away.
    “Sir?” Elycia managed.
    Irkhir answered her with his eyes.
    “I am not his kiss.”
    “No.” He smiled. “Didn’t you come to the dra with a blossom in your hair holding his hand?” Irkhir pointed to the floor where Thaniel was pinned, the wind driven from his lungs by the hard knee in his back.
    Elycia sniffed and nodded.
    “But, he’s…”
    “You prefer Keriim?” He studied her with a cold appraising stare until she shook her head, wiping tears before they fell from her face. “Then shut up. Somebody has to be the Caller’s kiss.”
    “Never.” Elycia buried her face in her hands and crumpled to the floor in tears.
    “Seems you don’t have a way with women, Caller. We’ll see how you do with Lisella Ontar.”

Chapter 8
    Nightmares
    “Come inside Mistress. You will catch your death out there.” Farina, her handmaiden, called from inside.
    “You have no idea…” She mumbled under her breath.
    Since she had taken the mantle of rule and had to push love away, Lisella tried not to open the heavy shutters of her balcony for any other purpose than addressing the crowd during the Festival of the Caller. Not only was the balcony just high enough so that the castle walls didn’t shield the spot from Anwar’s ever present icy wind, but the  memories that greeted her there were almost too much to bear.
    She had steeled herself against his charms before she went out to address her people. She didn’t dare let her eyes settle on any man in crimson and armor lest it be him. But then, her traitorous eyes picked up on the tiny movement a soldier made as he scolded two young men in the crowd. She nearly bit off her tongue when she realized who the soldier was.
    There, in the midst of the two young men, stood Tristan.
    It wasn’t her fault that the man was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. It couldn’t be wrong for her to see the man by accident. She had eyes after all.
    Yet, it was the second look, the one he didn’t return, that she was so mad about. She couldn’t blame him for moving on. After all, she drove him away. What was the man supposed to do? Wait for nothing? At the time she made it all too clear. The ruler of Ontar couldn’t be the mistress of a common soldier.
    She wondered what her father, whom she’d never met, would say. He died in battle two months before she was born. Theirs being a marriage of alliance rather than love, her mother never spoke of him. All she had ever known of her father came from Irkhir’s scolding. He meant well enough. At least the man waited until they were alone. He always had opinions of what her father would or wouldn’t have done in all kinds of circumstances. Whether or not they were an accurate picture of the man she didn’t know. She hoped so. Irkhir’s advice was usually sound.
    Her mother wasn’t the type to be