Malcolm (Book 1, The Redemption Series) Read Online Free PDF

someone.
    “Yes,” I say, ducking a swipe of his sword at my head. “She told me everything.”
    “I seriously doubt that,” my father says knowingly. “Because even she doesn’t know the whole story.”
    This brings me up short and the tip of my father’s holographic sword pierces my mid-gut.
    “Ha! I finally won!” He declares triumphantly.
    “I’m not sure that one counts,” I say, stepping up to him. If anyone had been watching, it would have looked like I was impaling myself further onto his blade.
    “Who is this Malcolm Devereaux to you?” I ask. “Why would he care about my future? Does he plan to extort special favors from me once I’m on the throne?”
    “Of course not,” my father says, sounding completely appalled I would even think of such a thing.
    “Then why? Why would someone like him spend so much money to make sure I was placed in a position of power?”
    “Because we both wanted to make sure you were safe,” my father says. “Swords disengage.”
    Our swords disappear, and we just stand there facing one another.
    I can tell by the set of my father’s jaw that he doesn’t want to talk about the particulars of his relationship with Overlord Devereaux, but I want answers.
    “If he’s such a good friend of yours,” I say, “why hasn’t he ever visited us here? As far as I know, he’s never stepped foot in Cirrus.”
    “He doesn’t like to involve himself in the politics up here. Honestly, I don’t blame him. If conditions were better, I would have rather raised you on the surface. But, life is easier up here, a fact you yourself reminded me of just this morning at breakfast.”
    “Do you have an image of him?” I ask. “The empress doesn’t have one. She said he didn’t like having his image rendered.”
    “No, I don’t have one of him.”
    “Do you talk to him very often?”
    “I talk to him once a year.”
    “Why only once a year?”
    “It’s the arrangement we made to commemorate the death of your mother.”
    I pause in my interrogation because I know what that means.
    “You talk on my birthday? He knew my mother? How?”
    “Malcolm was friends with your mother’s family. He was devastated when Amalie passed away. He always felt responsible for her death.”
    “Why would he feel guilt over that?  She died in childbirth.”
    My father shakes his head at me. “Can you just leave it at what I said? Why are you asking so many questions, Anna?”
    “I just want to know more about him,” I say. “And I want to know why I had to hear about his connection to our family from the empress instead of you. You should have been the one to tell me, Papa, not her.”
    My father nods. “I agree. You should have heard it from me, but I honestly didn’t think it would matter, and I’m not sure why the empress told you in the first place.”
    “She doesn’t seem to know much about Overlord Devereaux either. Maybe she thought I could provide her with more information since you obviously have a close connection to him.”
    “Well, the less she knows the better. Malcolm likes his privacy. As long as he pays the tribute she extorts from the overlords each year, I don’t see why she should care.”
    “Extorts?” I ask, slightly confused by his use of the term. “You don’t think they should pay tribute to the royal family?”
    “Not when it amounts to fifty percent of their earnings.”
    “It’s that much?” I ask, having never known the taxes imposed on the down-worlders was so exorbitant. “How can they afford to give so much?”
    “They don’t have a choice,” my father sighs. “Maybe when you and Auggie take the throne, you’ll be able to find a way to make their tributes more reasonable.”
    “Then this Malcolm does want something in return for putting me on the throne.”
    “No. He wants you safe, Anna,” my father says, and I know he’s telling the truth because I’ve always been able to tell when someone is lying to me. “He doesn’t want a