The Chosen Read Online Free PDF

of movement. She was halfway done, ready to run back to her room to check on the small bird and hide herself away from the rest of the manor, when a manservant appeared.
    “Come with me,” he ordered gruffly. Kathryn’s heart pounded as she realized he was taking her to her mistress.
    The manservant entered the room first, bowing. “Milady.”
    Kathryn followed, giving her mistress a brief curtsy, before lowering her eyes to the floor.
    “Are you sure this is her?” The Lady of Blackwood Manor’s voice was suspicious.
    Kathryn forced herself to remain still. Lady Blackwood’s tone left no doubt in her mind that her actions in the forest had been the most recent topic of conversation amongst the Blackwoods and their guests.
    “Yes, Lady Blackwood. I am sure.” The woman’s voice was light and musical, but still firm, nothing at all like Lady Blackwood’s stern, cold voice. And not at all what Kathryn had imagined an outcast’s voice to sound like.
    “Kathryn, look at me,” The Lady of Blackwood Manor commanded. Slowly Kathryn raised her head and looked her mistress in the face.
    Satisfied at the response Lady Blackwood continued. “These people say you were using your...” Kathryn caught the brief glimpse towards her guests, “…talents. Is it true?” Her tone of voice was dispassionate, suggesting that she didn’t care one way or the other what Kathryn’s response would be, but her eyes were cold, and it was the coldness that frightened Kathryn. She had seen it before and the events that followed still gave her nightmares.
    But what could she do? She couldn’t lie. Not with the outcast woman in the same room. There was nothing to do but tell the truth.
    Bracing herself for a blow, Kathryn reluctantly nodded.
    Lady Blackwood let out a horrified gasp, as if she had been struck. Fury and indignation burned in her eyes and Kathryn winced at the sight, quickly lowering her eyes back to the floor.
    “What am I going to do with you Kathryn?” Lady Blackwood may have phrased it as a question, but her tone left little doubt to Kathryn as to what she planned to do. She resigned herself to more pain and nightmares.
    “You will turn her over to me.” The strange Lady spoke this with such authority as to startle everyone in the room.
    Lady Blackwood looked in astonishment at the speaker. “And why would I turn my servant over to you, Lady Jasmine?” She asked incredulously, some of the anger she felt at Kathryn seeping into her words.
    “Because this girl has a gift and she cannot learn to use it if she’s a servant,” The dark haired lady said severely.
    Listening intently, Kathryn thought to herself — gift? What gift?
    “Kathryn has been with us for six years, I have come to depend on her. You cannot take her from me. And no local sheriff will support your demand that I simply hand over my servant to you without reparation. So how, pray tell, will you abscond with my servant?”
    “I will involve the Guardians.”
    Lady Blackwood sniffed disdainfully. “They are far too busy keeping the peace between villages and farms to be bothered with the fate of a simple servant. Besides, how would you call them? Only their vaunted Council knows the locations of their homes.”
    “There are ways,” one of the visiting men commented slowly.
    “Perhaps, but until then you are no longer welcome in my castle or on my properties. If you wish to involve the Guardians than by all means, involve them. But until you ride up to my gates with them behind you, take your leave of my estate.”
    “And have the child disappear in the time it takes to fetch the nearest Guardians?” The vertically challenged visitor asked sarcastically. “Not likely.”
    Lady Blackwood stood. “I don’t give one wit about your feelings in this matter. Kathryn is my servant. My property. Without a legal dispensation from the King giving you the right to take her from me, she belongs to me . You can threaten all you like, but not even the