Master Of Surrender Read Online Free PDF

the floor, her jaw dropped.
    In the time it took to blink, the knights surged forward. The dark knight barked an order to his men to hold. The boy was his. Rohan’s eyes never wavered from Russell, who stood defiant midway up the stairway. Isabel knew he would pay for the attack with his life. She could not stomach the loss. With cold, hard realization, Isabel moved directly in front of the knight’s path up the stairway.
    As he reached for his battle ax and hurled it across the hall, Rohan pushed her aside. Isabel stood transfixed in horror, watching the motion of the ax as it hurled handle over head toward Russell in what seemed slow motion. The boy scurried up the stairwell, where the ax bit deep into the scruff of his tunic and into the wooden cross timber pinning him there.
    The furious knight rushed up the stairway, pulled the ax free from the lumber cross beam, and raised it to sever Russell’s head from his body. Isabel lunged up the stairs, throwing herself across the boy’s back.
    “Nay! Do not kill him!”
    The knight roared his anger and grabbed her with one fist by the tunic, lifting her high off her feet. A storm waged on the sharp angles of his face, but Isabel refused to cower. It was her fault Russell had taken it upon himself to defend her honor. Eye to eye with the son of Satan, Isabel raised her chin, even though she hung from his grip like a scullery rag. His blazing eyes flashed before they steeled again. “Do not interfere, wench!”
    She kicked him in the shin. “I am no wench. I am the Lady of Rossmoor. As such I have some word here. Do not harm the boy!”
    Surprise sparked in his eyes. “You demand what is no longer yours. I am master here until William bids it otherwise.”
    “Are you so demonic that you must murder children as well as their fathers?”
    The knight growled low. “I murder those who would murder me.”
    “He is but a boy trying to protect his mistress. Forgive him his loyalty to me.”
    “I forgive no one who attempts to cut short my time on this earth. He will pay the penance as those before who have tried and failed before him.”
    “Nay! You cannot! ’Tis murder!”
    “Call it what you will, maid, but I will see it done.”
    He released her, and she tumbled to the steps, her back slamming hard against the wall. The knight stepped past her and started toward Russell, who had crawled to the top of the stairway. He could have run off and hidden whilst she argued for his life with the Black Sword, but Russell stood his ground. Isabel scrambled up the stairway after the knight and grabbed at his hauberk sleeve. “I beg you, spare the boy. Spare him!”
    The knight abruptly turned, and she slammed hard into his thighs. Before she bounced off, he grabbed her by her sleeve and pulled her up against the cool hardness of his mail-covered chest. Their gazes locked. Her rage was forgotten as an earth-shattering terror gripped her.
    As if she could see her future, Isabel saw it with this man in it. His naked body, glistening with sweat as he thrust himself between her thighs. Her body stilled. For it would be the price he would demand for the boy’s life. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that as sure as she was Lady Isabel, daughter of Lord Alefric and Lady Joan, this man would see her maidenhead as the price for the boy’s life.
    And as foreseen, his hand slid down her back, pressing their bodies more intimately together. “What price do you put on the boy’s head, damsel?”
    With no hesitation, Isabel answered, “I wouldst give my life for his.”
    His eyes darkened, he pushed her away from him. With a slow, appraising glance, he perused her from the tip of her soft leather slippers up to her hips, then to her bosom. When his eyes rose to meet hers, he softly said, “Your life is unimportant to me.” He pressed his hand to her breast. “Methinks, though, you have something beneath your gown that wouldst interest me more.”
    Although prepared to sacrifice herself