The Servant's Heart Read Online Free PDF

None of these men could take you, and a woman? No one will believe you did this as self defense. You -- the king's assassin."
    "I was never his assassin! Just because I am skilled with a blade, just because I prefer stealth-- I have never spilled blood until this day, Jon. I've never killed." I stood up, blood dripping from my hands, my hair, it was everywhere. In my pores. I wanted to scrub it off. It was poisoning me. The scion of traitors covered in blood. My family legacy.
    "Terence, you know how this will look to the court." Jon shook his head. "I know you aren't capable of this, but the rest? My mother cannot afford to defend you. She would lose too many supporters."
    "They attacked me," I snapped.
    "No one will believe that. You aren't trusted," Jon said. "We have to send you away before someone finds out about this."
    I knew the truth of his words. I'd never been trusted. Only the queen and her son trusted me, and that would not be enough. If this was discovered, I would be done. My family had a history of betrayal, and I, the last son of those poisoned branches, would be proven as bad as the rest. They would chop off my head to keep the taint from spreading. Because I was Terence d'Ilore and my family had betrayed the last king during his reign and I was the only son spared, my sister Anna the only daughter.
    I was a black sheep, and this would be the rope I'd be hanged with.
    "How?"
    Jon wrapped his arms around me. "I'll take care of everything. You are my friend." He stroked my blood soaked hair, he let me cry. Nothing was ever going to be the same. I had to run.
 
     
    ***
     
    If those here knew I was a son of Ilore, they would know of my treasonous past. They would know and they would hate me. I would have to run again. It was all I was good at.
    Ilore's treachery was news that had spread through the kingdoms like wildfire. Everyone knew. I slipped again in the mud, and felt a fool for it. The king -- had he seen me like this -- would have beaten me with the flat of his sword and locked me in a cold room for a few days. The wonders of my childhood.
    I tried to get up and slipped again.
    I cried out in frustration and swore, crawling on my belly to slither out of the pit of mud. I managed to stumble forward into the clearing with the old ruins. Suddenly, all sound stopped. I could not hear my pursuers. Something flew overhead into the clearing, it was small -- a hawk. Black with copper eyes.
    I fell backwards onto the ground, catching myself on my elbows.
    The tiny hawk landed on a near tree and then leapt, gliding to land on my chest and driving me down to lie on the muddy ground. It was heavier than it looked. The talons dug into my chest. It winked at me and I found myself looking it -- no, him -- in the eyes. I reached a hand out, and he bit my finger with that needle sharp beak. I swore, but something else became more important than the pain in my finger.
    I could see... visions of the past in his eyes.
    Children in the palace throwing stones. Men and woman whose words just carried to my ears. The King telling me everyday -- you're a traitor. You will betray your friends. It's in your blood. You can't change that. No matter where you go, no one will ever trust you because you are an Ilore.
    He let out a cry, and the vision changed.
    Anna, alive and laughing. She was smiling. I knew what day it was. The last day. We'd been happy that day.
    The hawk let out another cry and flew away into the trees. I managed to pull myself up and out of the mud. The rain washed some of it away, but my clothes would need a few washings before they'd be right again. I wished a few washings would make me right again. I took a deep breath. The mud had a sour smell to it.
    There was no use putting off the inevitable.
    As soon as I was out of the trees, there were hands grabbing for me. I struggled, but I was tired and wet and in no condition to get away from a group of large well-muscled men. The two men on either side of me I