Sworn To Defiance Read Online Free PDF Page A

Their passion became emotions, their emotions became thoughts, their thoughts became symbols, and then their symbols became sigils. She had seen the sigils called on solid objects and in the air. But in the flesh of a living being? Never.
    Which was why Ciardis was wondering why she hadn’t seen them on Thanar before. She stared at the symbols of darkness that lay like black clean lines on the pale white of his flesh. But there was nothing simple about them. They glimmered and shifted like eels on his arms. Even from a few feet away Ciardis could feel the power radiating from them like the heat of fire. One she didn’t want to touch. Because this fire wasn’t one of warmth and safety. It promised dark depths, heated brimstone, and a danger in a way that she had yet to experience.
    Then Sebastian cleared his throat. “You just going to hover there?”
    The snap in his voice hinted at irritation.
    Thanar said, “Yes. I have to wait until those creatures catch up. There’s no reason to land and re-launch if I can help it.”
    Sebastian snorted. “Right.”
    Ciardis reached out to Sebastian’s arm. It was more for a touch of reassurance than anything else. Better the evil she knew than the one she didn’t. Both males had their power latched around her mage core, but out of the two Sebastian won her trust more. She knew that Sebastian had and would betray her for honor and empire, but at least he wouldn’t roast her over a dark god’s fire and cackle while he did it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go anywhere with the daemoni prince. Ally or not. He might have saved their lives numerous times but he’d killed just as many people in a blink of his carnelian eyes. He was cold, calculating, and brutal. If Thanar was crafting sigils and conjuring dark winds with a snap of his fingers, that was trouble. Trouble with a capital T.
    Before she could speak, Thanar spoke to her. “Something the matter, Ciardis?”
    Ciardis might have been a touch frightened, but she was no coward. She had never let fear rule her actions and she wouldn’t start now. Besides, she had the sneaking suspicion that the smug bastard was mocking her.
    One confirmed when she caught the slight tilt of his mouth into a smile when she stared at his lips. She didn’t know why, but she refused to look into his eyes. Call it superstition. Call it wariness. But the old wives’ tale that a daemoni mage with the power to conjure sigils also had the power to enrapture with their minds was foremost in her thoughts. Better safe than sorry. So she picked a spot on his face, just to the left of his nose, and kept her determined gaze squarely there.
    “Just wondering what you’ve been up to.”
    If Thanar noticed her odd concentration on his cheek, he didn’t say anything.
    He shrugged. “You mean in the hours since our separation? Killing some guards. Getting the hell out of the villa.”
    She couldn’t help it. She quickly glanced up and away. Not meeting his eyes but assessing them. She wasn’t as good at reading the daemoni prince’s emotions but it was as clear as day. Amusement glinted in his eyes.
    “Funny,” said Sebastian. He sounded irritated but not alarmed. Which he should be. Very alarmed. Her mind went cold. She hadn’t been referring to Thanar’s extended stay inside the villa. From the look in his eyes, Thanar knew it. She knew it. The question was...why didn’t Sebastian?
    “Oh,” she said carefully. “It looked like more than that to me.”
    “Yeah, those blasts were intense,” concurred Sebastian without catching on to the undercurrents of the conversation.
    “Wasn’t my doing,” Thanar said while looking over at Sebastian with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
    This time she wasn’t going to mince words. This dance around the subject wasn’t to her taste. Especially when it felt like Sebastian was the butt of an unspoken joke. 
    Catching Thanar’s expressive eyes, she felt a gasp escape her mouth unwillingly. It wasn’t a