Seduce Me in Flames Read Online Free PDF Page B

gardens where no surveillance could reach them. Then she had softly said:
    “Do not take all that is said about your mother too much to truth. While it is true she was willful, and herown actions led to her fall from grace, there were many who plotted against her and desired to see her fall. There are some who believe your mother’s worst crime was her ambition. She wanted to win the sole love of the emperor and to be made empress at his side. She thought she had charms enough to coax your father into one day sharing his ultimate power with her. And, indeed, your father was much enamored of your mother from the first moment he caught sight of her. As you can see, she was quite beautiful.”
    Ambrea had seen very few images of her mother over the years because her mother’s name was forbidden to be spoken and her image had been struck and outlawed from public records in Allay. To have this Vid was a high crime. Blay-ana could have lost her life for giving it to her, and Ambrea could suffer for it should she be caught. But she had more of a desire to treasure the images of the fine-boned brunette than she had a fear of being caught with them. Although it was uncanny how much she looked like her mother in the pretty, feminine contours of her face and the regal elegance of her neck and shoulders, the brilliance of her fiery red hair and the strength and height of her body were all obvious gifts from her father. The teal shade of her irises was a perfect blend of her mother’s stunning green and her father’s cerulean blue eyes.
    It was hard to believe he was dead. As hatefully as he had treated her, she had always held him in her mind with a measure of awe and respect, her sharp intellect recognizing that he had wielded his absolute power with a magnificence that equaled his tyranny. His reign had fathered a great deal of prosperity for the country of Allay. He had wrought new trade agreements that should have the governmental coffers overflowing. Allay was a jewel in the crown of the planet Ulrike, and her father had made it shine very brightly.
    But he had been young—not even fifty cycles old. How had he died? What sickness was there that modern medicine had failed him at such a young age? Had there been a violent accident? Or perhaps an assassination?
    Ambrea closed away her mother’s images. She pressed the book to her heart and wondered, as she had many times before, what her mother’s true flaw had been. Had she really been a traitor, as everyone insisted she was? Or had she simply displeased a spoiled man who wanted his way in all things and resented anyone gainsaying him? If that was the case, what had been the terrible boundary that she had overstepped? What had she done that had warranted her topple from first lady of all Allay to its most despised criminal?
    There was a loud clang behind her as the bolts of the door snapped open and the portal gave way with a pneumatic hiss. She stood and turned to face whatever destiny was coming toward her.
    There was a gliding sound, a rustle of fabric, and suddenly Suna was there.
    “Suna!”
    Pride and bearing were forgotten as relief washed over Ambrea, and she rushed to clasp hands with her trusted friend. This was her companion who had stayed with her these many years, even through her last imprisonment, even though no glory or riches were to be found as the companion of a fallen, destitute princess. It was customary for a prisoner of great station to be allowed a companion, provided one volunteered. Suna had been left behind at Blossom Palace when Ambrea had been called before her brother. The guards must have returned to her and informed her of her mistress’s fate.
    “Oh, I am so glad to see you,” Ambrea breathed. But in the next instant she released the hands of her best friend and gave her a stern frown. “You can’t be thinking of staying with me. I forbid it absolutely.”
    “And I refuse to obey your command,” Suna said firmly. “We have been jailed