King’s Wrath Read Online Free PDF

she barely survived her birth.’
    ‘Not all,’ Leo said. He grinned humourlessly at Loethar’s puzzled expression and squatted next to the barbarian. ‘You clearly haven’t spent much time around the family or you’d know we’re famed for our secrets.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ Loethar asked.
    ‘What do you know about the Valisar Legacy?’ Leo responded.
    Loethar tried to shrug and grimaced in pain. ‘I’ve learned plenty over the anni with the family library finally at my disposal,’ he said. Gavriel noticed how he couldn’t hide his feelings; his expression clearly betrayed the anger he was feeling. ‘I know that there is the legacy of the aegis magic and the near enough immortal protection it offers. I know about the so-called Enchantment that says that the females born of the line possess the greatest of all powers … to coerce at will.’
    ‘Why is that so different from what some Vested can do?’ Gavriel asked.
    Leo turned to him. ‘The magic of the Vested can be impressive, but even so, any sort of coercement of theirs is of a low form and can probably only be sustained for short periods. The magic of the Valisars is said to be much more powerful, or so my father and grandfather told me.’
    ‘And I’m sure you are looking to gain some of that power for yourself,’ Loethar said and Gavriel noticed a look pass between uncle and nephew that spoke of a respect for each other’s cunning. ‘Anyway,’ Loethar continued, ‘my heir is dead, my mother has been murdered, my wife has been banished, my brother turned traitor, my closest friend has been killed. All in all, life is hardly an orchard.’
    ‘Aludane save us! And I thought your life was complicated,’ Elka remarked, glancing at Gavriel.
    He smirked at her as she turned back to Loethar. ‘I’m sorry to hear of your losses. No one should lose a mother and a daughter in such a short time.’
    ‘I’m not sorry,’ Leo said coldly. ‘The more of his kin that is gone, the better. Besides, I’m sure he and his ill-bred horde killed whole families when they came rampaging into the Set.’
    ‘You are my kin, Leo,’ Loethar said, with an equally wintry tone. ‘And you’re right. I deserve no pity from anyone here.’
    ‘Nor will you get it,’ Gavriel remarked.
    Loethar shrugged, clearly ignoring the pain it prompted this time.
    Elka looked from Loethar to Gavriel. ‘Why don’t you just kill him and be done?’ she said, so sarcastically that Gavriel flinched inside. ‘I hardly recognise you when you act this way.’
    ‘We’re here to talk,’ Gavriel said to Loethar, covering his dismay at Elka’s attack. ‘Why did you come north?’
    Loethar sighed. ‘It’s complicated. In short, the death of my child and my belief that my wife murdered my mother conspired to make me want to get away from the castle. In order to do so I brought our mother’s ashes to my half-brother, whom I suspected was considering rising up against me. Now I know that those suspicions were right.’
    ‘So your trip to the north was all about delivering your mother’s ashes to Stracker?’ Gavriel asked.
    ‘No, that was my excuse I gave myself. My real reason for heading north was to find out who killed Freath and why,’ Loethar explained.
    ‘I can put you out of your misery on that question,’ Leo said.
    Gavriel looked at him with surprise. ‘You know?’
    ‘Yes, I know. I killed him.’
    ‘You?
‘ Loethar hissed. ‘But he was working for you!’
    ‘He killed my mother,’ Leo said. ‘I swore a blood oath that I would kill him, so I did, once he had told us everything he knew.’
    Loethar let out a growl of frustration. ‘Freath was a traitor in my life for ten anni. All of those clever conversations, steering me onto a particular path while he went down the other.’ He shook his head. Then he smiled. ‘And still I admire him. And still I like him.’ He smirked. ‘I had convinced myself he was the most honest person in my life even