Queen of Lost Stars (Dragonblade Series/House of St. Hever) Read Online Free PDF Page B

do it!”
    Mavia went to her, quickly, trying to soothe her. “Do not trouble yourself, darling,” she said, taking one of Madelayne’s hands and squeezing it. The other hand was on her shoulder, trying to keep the woman on the bed. “I swear to you that Thomas will not… darling, he has come to speak with you. Please be calm. You should not trouble yourself so.”
    Mavia was being insistent and soothing, but to Madelayne, she came across as demanding. She was practically pushing her back onto the bed. Madelayne frowned, trying to push the woman away because she seemed too eager to put her hands on her.
    “Did Mavia tell you?” Madelayne asked the weary-looking knight. “My son was born this morning. He is dead. I will tell Cairn myself so you must not tell him. Please, Thomas. Do not tell him!”
    She was pleading with him. Thomas sighed heavily, mentally preparing what he had to say. Lady Madelayne was pale, her lovely eyes dark-circled, and she had a rather wild-eyed look about her at the moment. He simply couldn’t get past that panicked expression, terrified with the thought that Thomas was going to tell Cairn of his dead son before she could. He held out a hand to her, silently begging for calm.
    “I will not,” he said, his voice dull and hoarse. “Lady, surely, I cannot. I wish to God that I could. I wish to God that you could, but you cannot. Lady l’Ebreux, God has taken Cairn to heaven to be with him. He fell in the battle at Beeston and he is gone. It is my wholly unhappy duty to tell you this news, especially in light of what happened this morning, but I have no choice. I pray that you can forgive me for the news I bear and understand that your husband died a glorious death.”
    Madelayne blinked as if she didn’t quite understand what she was being told. She had not slept in almost two days, long days of laboring to bring forth her dead son, so her mind was muddled. She stared at Thomas as Mavia kept trying to squeeze her hand. She yanked her hand away from the woman, unwilling to be comforted. Her gaze upon Thomas was intense.
    “That cannot be,” she said with an odd calm. “He assured me that he would be home in a few days. He assured me that it was a light skirmish. Surely he is coming home; you must be mistaken, Thomas.”
    Thomas shook his head sadly. “Alas, I am not,” he replied. “Cairn was set upon by rebels and they took his life. I have brought him home to be buried, now with his son that did not survive. I am so very sorry for your losses, Madelayne. Cairn was a good man.”
    Madelayne stared at the man as she came to realize what he was telling her. The news suddenly hit her like a hammer, colliding with her fragile mind, and her eyes widened and the breath left her. She couldn’t breathe at all, now clutching at her throat.
    “Nay,” she gasped. “It cannot be true!”
    “It is.”
    “It is not! He promised to return to me!”
    Thomas sighed heavily, hanging his head. “I have brought him home for you to see him,” he said, rather coldly. “He is being taken to the vault. I will take you there when you are strong enough to bear it.”
    Madelayne was looking at him but she wasn’t really seeing him; she was looking through him, perhaps seeing all of those dreams she’d had with a happy husband and family, now gone forever. Swept away by the winds of fate, up into the heavens where memories and souls were kept. Cairn was now one of those lost stars, too, those dead souls that nearly everyone she had ever loved had become.
    Now, she was truly alone.
    Dear God, it couldn’t be true!
    … could it?
    It was too much to bear. Madelayne fell back onto the bed, closing her eyes tightly and trying to bury herself in the coverlet. She didn’t want to see anyone or face anyone. She didn’t want to see their expressions, an agonizing reflection of what her life had now become in the pitiful trappings of sorrow. Was it really true? Had Cairn really left her alone in this