Lynn Viehl - [Darkyn 08 - Lords of the Darkyn 01] Read Online Free PDF Page A

their teeth ache? Oh, yes. I remember now. Everyone except you.”
    Simone smiled as she went to the sink to wash her hands. “You should mix them together, sisters. They might taste sweet and sour, like Sister Terese’s strawberry-rhubarb tarts.”
    Manon chuckled. “As quickly as you eat, child, I’m surprised your mouth has the time to taste anything.”
    The water spilled over her hands as she remembered how quickly they had been made to eat their meals at the château. Cinq had always made a game of it, racing with her other brothers to finish before her, teasing her in a whisper whenever their handlers were distracted. This time I will win, sister.…
    “Simone, there you are.” Another sister appeared in the kitchen. “Flavia wishes you to come to the library.”
    Simone stopped drying her hands. As the only person in the convent who used the library, she occasionally visited at night to rummage through the old collection. The sisters kept their books in their rooms or on the shelves in the salon where they all gathered after dark. Flavia used the library for only two reasons: to receive official visitors from Rome, or to deliver news she didn’t want anyone else to hear, for it was also the only soundproofed room in the convent.
    It had to be someone from Rome.
    “ Merci, ma sœur. ” Quickly Simone unpinned the towel from her skirt and smoothed back the tendrils that had come loose from her braids before she hurried up to the second floor.
    When Simone reached the door, she stopped and took several calming breaths. The first year she had lived at the convent full-time had been the worst; she’d been convinced that every stranger who came to their door had been sent with a message for her. Only after another year passed did Simone begin to hope that the bargain she had made with her father would last a lifetime.
    Her hand stopped shaking as she knocked twice and opened the door.
    The stranger inside with Flavia was a young man who wore the casual clothes and backpack of a tourist. At first glance Simone thought he might be a wandering Spaniard who had gotten lost, until she noted the Rolex on his left wrist and the excellence of his grooming. The slight bulge under the right seam of his denim jacket made her close the door and flip the bolt.
    Flavia spoke to Simone in English. “Thank you for attending us, sister. This is Brother Rudolpho, who brings from Rome a message of great importance.”
    The Italian rose to his feet and dipped his head. “My superiors directed me to deliver a message from our brother Helada. Madame advised me that it should be relayed to you.”
    Simone forgot to breathe.
    The courier produced a folded sheet of parchment sealed with a black-and-white oval, which he broke as he opened and read it aloud. “Helada writes, ‘The frost has ended, and so the harvest must begin.’”
    Helada is the frost that descends everywhere. That kills everything it touches, her father had said so many times. The snow that falls from the heavens to cover everything in death.
    I cannot do this. She had refused her father once, twice, a dozen times. I will not .
    The last words he had spoken to her had been his terms of the bargain. Swear to me you will do this, and I will let you go.
    The courier frowned as he looked up at Simone. “I do not understand the message.”
    “I do.” In her misery Simone felt a small pang of sympathy for the courier. “Forgive us, brother.”
    “Why should I—” A heavy thud proceeded Rudolpho’s groan, and he fell forward into Simone’s arms.
    Behind him, Flavia lowered her cane. “Is he unconscious?”
    “Yes.” Simone hauled the man’s limp body over to the window seat and placed him in a comfortable position on his side. “My father said the message would be sent only if our ruse had been discovered. The scroll is no longer safe here. I must leave at once.”
    Flavia went to the desk, unlocking it to remove another key, which she placed in Simone’s