The Last Mortal Bond Read Online Free PDF

thing.”
    â€œIf he had befriended a human, I wouldn’t be concerned. The third Annurian representative to the council, the man who goes by the name of Kiel—he is not a man. He is one of my kind.”
    Adare stared stupidly. “Kaden has a Csestriim?”
    Il Tornja chuckled. “Kiel is not a horse or a hunting dog, Adare. I have known him for millennia, and I can assure you, if anyone has anyone, it is Kiel who has your brother, who has possessed his mind and poisoned his will.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell me?” Adare demanded.
    â€œI only just realized the truth myself. When I didn’t recognize the name of the third Annurian delegate, I asked for a painting and description. Unfortunately, the fool responsible sent back a gorgeously inked parchment depicting the wrong person—one of the Kreshkan delegation, evidently. I discovered the error only recently.”
    Adare scrambled to make sense of the revelation. Il Tornja was a weapon, an instrument of destruction. She had him collared and brought to heel, and still she worried that she’d overlooked something, that one day she would give a tug on his leash only to find it gone terribly slack. Learning that there was another Csestriim in the world, one allied with her brother, one over whom she had no control whatsoever … it made her stomach churn.
    â€œKiel was the one who drafted the republican constitution,” she observed.
    Il Tornja nodded. “He has never been a lover of your empire. In fact, for hundreds of years he has labored to destroy it. Every important coup, every plot against Malkeenian rule—he was behind it.”
    â€œExcept for yours, of course. Except for the coup when you killed my father.”
    He smiled. “Yes. Except for that.”
    Adare studied him, hoping again to read something in those unreadable eyes, to see the gleam of a lie or the hard light of truth. As usual, there was plenty to see. As usual, she couldn’t trust any of it.
    â€œYou’re worried that Kaden knows who you are,” she said.
    â€œI am certain that Kaden knows who I am. Kiel has told him.”
    Behind her, Sanlitun twisted in his crib and cried out. For a moment, Adare had a horrible vision of the Urghul pouring over the bridge, the pale-skinned horsemen shattering the castle walls, smashing into her room, seizing the child.…
    She stood abruptly, turned so that il Tornja couldn’t see her face, and crossed the room to the crib. She watched her son a moment, watched him breathe, then lifted him gently into her arms. When she was certain she’d mastered her expression, she turned back to the kenarang .
    â€œI’ll go,” she said wearily. “I’ll try to mend the breach. I can’t promise more than that.”
    Il Tornja smiled, teeth bright in the lamplight. “Mending first. Later, perhaps, we can see to more … permanent solutions.”

 
    3
    â€œThey wanted you,” Maut Amut said. “The attackers wanted you.”
    Kaden paused in his climb, leaned against the banister as he caught his breath, then shook his head. “You can’t be sure of that.”
    Amut continued on, taking the stairs two at a time, indifferent to the gleaming weight of his Aedolian steel. He reached the next landing before realizing that Kaden had fallen behind.
    â€œMy apologies, First Speaker,” he said, bowing his head. “My shame makes me impatient.”
    The guardsman fixed his eyes on the stairs, settled a hand on the pommel of his broadblade, and waited. Even at his most animated, the First Shield of the Aedolian Guard was a stiff man, marmoreal, all right angles and propriety. Standing there motionless, waiting for Kaden to regain his strength, he looked like something carved, or hammered out on an anvil.
    Kaden shook his head again. “You don’t need to apologize for the fact that I’ve gone soft.”
    Amut didn’t move.