The Libertine Read Online Free PDF Page A

have to tread carefully, and in secret, but he wouldn’t
relinquish the opportunity. Have her he would. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said
to Glenna, keen to put an end to her meddling. “Turn Mistress Chloris away if
she comes back here.”
    Ailsa sidled over and embraced him, clinging to his arm and
warming him through. Glenna continued to work. It indicated the extent of her
frustration for she would often busy herself with extra tasks when she was
brooding upon something.
    “We should be on our way,” Glenna said eventually. “We should
leave these parts. You told us that you grew up without censure, with total
acceptance, in the Highlands.”
    That was hard for her, he knew, for she had been born here in
the Lowlands.
    “Lennox, I am only angry with you because I feel the clouds
rolling in.” She met his gaze then looked away, wiping her hands on her
apron.
    Lennox took note, for she was gifted with some level of
foresight, or at least foreboding. Unease built in Lennox. The people who made
up his coven were growing restless. He’d tried to make it different, to free
them of the fear of persecution suffered by hundreds before. The country was on
the cusp of change, he felt it, but he was still haunted by the ghosts of those
who had died for their beliefs, for their power to heal and create magic.
    “You’re a strong master,” Glenna continued, “and you’ve guided
us well, but we came together as a coven because we saw wisdom in your words. If
we do not find acceptance, we leave. I hoped...but I don’t believe full
acceptance is possible. We should go north and soon, before the worst
happens.”
    Ailsa squeezed his arm. “How pleasant it would be, to roam free
and gather herbs without looking back over my shoulder, fearing I will soon feel
the hangman’s noose around my neck.”
    Lennox sighed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, drawing
her in against him. Obligation weighed him down. Obligation to the past, the
present and the future. “Hush now. You will see the Highlands soon, I promise.” After I have found my sisters.
    Ailsa’s head lifted, the troubled look in her expression
vanishing.
    That was pleasing. He slapped her on the rump. “Away up and
warm my bed, wench.”
    Ailsa beamed then trailed her fingers down his arm invitingly
before she followed his instruction. He gave a wry smile. At least he was able
to keep one of his coven happy, if only in matters of a basic nature.
    Once she’d gone, he turned back to Glenna and Lachlan. “When
there is no hope of finding my sisters, then we’ll be gone. I would understand
if you wish to be on your way ahead of me. Something holds me to this place. It
is the simple wish that I will be reunited with my kin here.”
    “Aye, we understand that.” Glenna’s expression softened. “And
we have bound ourselves to you. You are our guide in these difficult times. We
trust you to make the right decision should they come after one of our own.”
    Lachie, who rarely offered his opinion, nodded. “We only
comment on your actions when we have concerns.” He worried at his jaw with his
good hand, as he did when he was unsure whether to speak out or not. “Sometimes
you are a mite hotheaded.”
    “It is a family trait, and it is the reason I fear for my
sisters, both pure born witches.”
    Glenna tapped his arm. “You will find them, mark my words.”
    “In the meantime,” Lachie said, “we have to comment if we think
you’re putting yourself at risk, and that cousin of Keavey’s is an attractive
sort.”
    “And why were you looking?” Glenna asked.
    “No crime in looking,” Lachie retorted with a chuckle.
    The fraught mood had been broken, but Lennox still brooded on
their comments. Glenna was correct, to some extent. Boredom drove him to be
reckless, or something of that nature. Frustration drove him, too. Finding his
siblings and keeping them safe had been his goal since they’d been parted as
young ones, and when he was thwarted in