Knight of Darkness Read Online Free PDF

his childhood, then it was worth fighting this battle between his mother and himself.
    The strong should never prey on the weak.
    His conviction set, he changed his clothes yetagain from the leather to his black armor. It was scant protection from the demon’s magick, but at least it would protect him from Bracken’s daggers, swords, or claws.
     
    Merewyn stood before the mirror in complete shock. For centuries, she’d avoided anything that could cast a reflection. But now…
    Now she bore the face that she’d been born to. Gone were the scars and the twisted body of the crone. She now stood upright with no hump, no pain. She was beautiful.
    Unable to believe it, she cupped her face in her hands and kept waiting for Narishka to take it away from her again.
    “What have you done, child?”
    She turned to find Magda standing behind her. Old and gnarled, she’d been one of the few people who had befriended Merewyn during her centuries here. “I made a pact with Narishka. I do one last service for her, and she’s going to let me go.”
    Magda scoffed. “Have you lost your mind? She never makes such bargains.”
    It was true. Her current fate had come from just such a bargain gone wrong. The original terms had been for her to remain ugly only for the cycle of the moon. But Narishka had failed to tell her that here in Camelot there was no moon cycle at all, and so she’d been trapped for eternity.
    Until now.
    Now she had the one chance she’d waited for.
    “I told you, Magda, that one day I would get my beauty back, and I have.”
    “At what cost?”
    Varian’s service to Morgen. She had three weeks to turn him to their side. Three weeks. If she failed, Narishka would return her to the hag’s form and spend eternity punishing her for her failure. But if she succeeded, she would be allowed to go free. Not as a hag, but as the woman she’d been born to be.
    “Don’t worry about the cost.”
    Magda shook her head. “I’m not the one who should be worried, child. That would be you.” The old woman drew closer to her so that she could touch the long, silken tresses of her black hair as if to prove to herself that it was real. “Is this why you struggled so hard to survive all these centuries?”
    Merewyn didn’t respond. Instead, she remembered a conversation they’d had long ago.
    “ Give up hope, child. This is your fate. You’re one of us now. Grayling in form, you will never again be the beautiful woman you were. ”
    “ I can’t give up hope, Magda. It’s all I have. I was stupid once, but I know that someday I’ll have the chance to be free. Should I die, then I’ll have lived only as a fool. I don’t want that to be my life. I want to be my own person again. Not a twisted crone, but a woman. ”
    “ You’re a fool, Merewyn. There is nothing but misery here. Learn to embrace it and don’t wish for more. You’ll only be disappointed if you do. ”
    She’d refused to believe it, and now here she was, restored.
    Magda narrowed her beady eyes on her. “And whose life have you sold for the beauty you have now?”
    A slice of fear pierced her. “How did you know?”
    “There could be nothing else that would make the mistress put you back as you were. So who will you destroy to be beautiful?”
    “Varian duFey,” she said quietly, then louder added, “But he’s a monster, and we both know it. Tell me, have you ever heard anyone say anything good about him?”
    Magda’s eyes turned dull. “Only you.”
    Merewyn looked away as pain filled her. It was true, he’d been kind to her. But one act of kindness couldn’t erase all the cruelty he’d committed in his lifetime. All the lives he’d taken. He was the son of Narishka. His father had destroyed the brotherhood of Arthur’s Round Table and ultimately ruined everyone’s life. And the two of them had bred a child equally as vicious.
    What she was doing was a service to the world.
    Shaking her head with a disgusted sigh, Magda made her way