Summoned and Bound (Summoned Series Romances Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her, even after she’d fallen asleep, filling her head with fractured dreams and long dormant memories. She heard her momma singing a lullaby, the boom of her daddy’s laughter, the faces of loved ones long gone. Her past, locked away for so many years, came back to her in a disjointed jumble. Scents and sounds, places and people she had banished to the deepest corners of her mind. In her sleep, she couldn’t stop it, and by the time she awoke again, it was too late. Her mind overflowed with memories of the past, too many to ignore.
    She woke with tears on her cheeks and one recollection standing out above all the others. A pair of creatures with skin like granite, their aquamarine eyes glowing softly in the twilight as they perched outside her window, guarding her bedroom. They were Garda warriors, her guardians, and they were the same race as Vamir.
    Gwyn had bathed and tidied herself, composing her mind as she washed away every trace of her tears. If the master noticed her distress, he would want to know why, and the power of the collar would force her to confess what she had remembered. If that happened, Vamir would die, but only after they had wrested every secret from him and left him shattered and broken.
    He was the first denizen of Essa she had seen since the day she’d been summoned, the only one who might be able to tell her what happened to her people and why no one had ever come looking for her. She had to talk to him again and then she had to find a way to free him before the master realized exactly who and what he’d summoned.
    She transported herself to the hallway outside the master’s quarters with nothing more than a thought. Teleporting was one of the few magics she could use without restriction. She had learned that if a magical talent made her more useful, she could sometimes gain permission to use it. She could release spells on chains and manacles like the ones Vamir had worn last night, and a few other things, but the majority of her abilities were denied her unless the master gave her permission.
    She schooled her features to careful neutrality and then knocked on the door of his study.
    “Enter.”
    The master’s voice lacked the bitter edge that normally heralded a fit of temper. Gwyn considered that a good sign. She let herself in, closing the door before kneeling on the stone floor with her head bowed and hands clasped together in her lap.
    “I am here as you requested, master. What did you need of me?”
    “I need you to attend to a matter for me. You are to go to the kingdom of Wulfshaven and free a slave I summoned some years ago. It seems she has fallen into the hands of a king with more money than sense. His Highness King Bern contacted me and offered to pay for her to be freed.”
    She blinked in surprise and lifted her head to look at the master. “You want me to free a slave?”
    Even here, in the privacy of his quarters, the master wore his robes and hood, keeping his face hidden. Gwyn knew he never looked at himself anymore, not if he could avoid it. There was a price to be paid for the power he wielded, a payment claimed in flesh and blood, carved from his body the same way his spells ripped and sundered the essence .
    “Did you lose your hearing since last night? Yes, that’s what I want you to do. Free her, take the payment, and return here before the day is out.”
    “Yes, master.” Gwyn’s head spun. Never before had she been instructed to use her magic to undo the Magi’s. She could of course, and both of them knew it, but to do so required him to free her from one of the first commands he’d ever given her. She could never to use her magic to counter his.
    He snapped, “You have your orders. Why are you still here?”
    “Forgive me, master, I have a question before I go.”
    “What?”
    “I would like to know the name of the slave I will be freeing.”
    She felt the force of his stare and bowed her head again, unsure if he would answer her or not.
    “Her