The Queen of Thieves: The Line of Kings Trilogy Book Three Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn't deny that she was growing on him.
                The Outlaw King's
widow , he chided himself, as though he had forgotten for one moment on the
road. His liege Lord Roskel bid him watch over her, and that was all he would
do. She was untouchable, unfathomable...not merely because she was a witch. But
he was a creature of duty and his duty was to see her and the babe to Naeth
safe and sound.
                But, Gods...
                She wrung her hair
dry and turned her gaze on him, and he was reminded of the other reason she was
untouchable. Looking into her eyes now, he had nearly forgotten just how damn
cold she was, and a man was liable to get burned touching a woman as cold and
hard as ice.
                Perhaps, he mused as
he thought back to their first meeting, in the blood and snow, it was no
wonder.
     
    *

Chapter Ten
               
    The woman who would have been
Queen of Sturma, had things turned out differently, the woman who was mother to
the last of the line of kings, came from her humble witch's hut behind Asram
Fell.
                Her mother had just
been killed. Asram had killed the attackers - all bar two, who Rena had seen to
herself. Looking at her now, soot from the fire on her face, he imagined her a
warrior Queen, rather than a young witch. There were no tear tracks on her cheeks.
Perhaps witches grieved differently to mere mortals, thought Asram. Perhaps,
though, she would mourn later, and shed her tears when they were safely away on
the road. Maybe it was for the best.
                'Asram,' she said.
She had been inside her home with the body of her mother for some time. He
didn't want, or need to know, the business of a witch in mourning.
                'My lady,' he said.
                'Rena,' she said.
'Please. I am no one's lady,' she added. For some reason Asram felt the words
held a deeper meaning than he grasped. 'Help me bring the assassins inside the
hut,' she said.
                She did not need to
ask twice, and he thought nothing of the order. He was Roskel's man. Before
that he had been the Queen of Thieves' man. Now he was Rena's, until his duty
and his debt were fulfiled and repaid.
                He nodded and pushed
himself to his feet, slinging his bow across his shoulders. There were no
sounds in the night. Nothing to make him think that there were any more killers
out in the quiet snows. But he was ever careful, and because of his care was
still alive despite the number of men he'd faced with bow and blade.
                Together, he and Rena
dragged the first corpse across the threshold. Rena's mother was laid out,
wrapped in a linen cloth, before a small fire that burned still in the hearth.
Laid to rest.
                'Dump the bodies
wherever you want,' she said.
                Asram nodded again.
His orders, from the Steward himself, but more importantly, perhaps, coming
through the Queen of Thieves, to serve Rena in all things, but moreover, to
protect her life with his. To Asram, should she order him to, he would do most
anything. He was a man of honour, though from his looks one might not think so.
He had the look of a ruffian, though with a certain glint in his eye that made
people perhaps more inclined to give him the time of day than try to run him
through. Still, in his line of work, plenty of people tried to run him through
- charming eyes or not.
                When he had dumped
all the bodies in the hut, Rena thanked him.
                'Spread this around
the hut,' she told him, passing him a large vial containing some kind of
noxious liquid. He did so without question, flicking the potion or whatever it
was around the hut liberally.
                Meanwhile, Rena took
a bowl and filled it with pungent moss. She placed the bowl on her mother's
chest.
                Then she set fire to
the