The Shades of Time Read Online Free PDF

and
possible scenarios, with wait and
see an unavoidable solution.
    With the
Council and the Sisterhood seeking the same answers, it should have
come as no surprise that their mutual interests would cross paths.
That fate chose that particular moment to thrust a new player onto
the stage, the Demon de' Medici no less, might be fortuitous and
just the opening she needed.
    The Council operative was the devil she knew … but this devil? From what
their historians catalogued, he was a born assassin, with a black
heart and an even blacker soul. History painted him as the
penultimate blackguard, a gross injustice. He was more, much more.
A frisson of fear tickled at her spine.
    Stefano's
knees, pressed hard against the small of her back, were a small
reassurance, though she would not rely on him should her situation
become untenable. She sensed she had an opportunity to shortcuts
heretofore unavailable in this time and place. Lies and intrigue
and fanciful phrases had gotten her an entrée into the right
circles but not to the prize. She'd been sidetracked, delightfully
so, with Stefano but that did little to forward her pursuit of
answers to the vexing perturbations the Sisterhood had detected.
What little time remained must not be spent in idle dalliance.
    She chuckled to herself, As if being
kidnapped and swept away to parts unknown counted as a
dalliance.
    She was losing
discipline and focus. She should be asking what purpose kidnapping
her served? Claiming kinship with Charles—the heir to the major
houses of the Habsburgs, Castile-Aragon and Burgundy—would hardly
suffice as a reason, hell … everyone was related to everyone else
in this timeline. Her connection, alleged of course, to the French
court would be the likely source of their interest. That was the
line she needed to pursue for it might lead to the clues she
sought.
    If history
intended to derail and knock their timeline askew, the Medicis and
their damnable interferences had to be at the center of that
looming event. With most of the potential players in one basket, so
to speak, she was in a unique position to calculate the
probabilities … and to predict probable outcomes.
    She glanced
away from the fearsome giant staring her down. This one seemed
immune to her wiles, a disquieting thought as she had been selected
for this mission based on a very particular skill set. She would do
well to remember her limitations in this matter. But
notwithstanding certain shortcomings, she was not without
resources.
     
    Tonio turned
his attention to the receding dock, watching with interest as a
robed figure awkwardly boarded a smaller ferry. Their stalker would
bear watching, but for now they had position and the approaching
square—and his men—to provide a sufficient distraction. He rose as
the ferry bumped against a piling.
    His brother
hopped onto the dock and helped secure the lines, then turned and
reached for Veluria as Tonio easily lifted the woman into his
waiting arms. The brief contact, with his hands wrapped securely
about her diminutive frame, had sent a powerful surge of heat to
his loins, though this time it seemed a transient event, not one
she directed consciously.
    Had it been a
mistake to use his powers on her? With so little understanding of
what guided his abilities, he generally exercised extreme caution
in their execution. He could ill afford to allow an open conduit
between them. No, he must avoid contact at all costs from now on
until Cosimo determined just what she was.
    With a final
glance to the darkening eastern skies, he launched himself out of
the ferry and strode quickly into the milling crowd.
    Tonio glanced
around St. Mark's Square, already crowded with early evening
pleasure seekers, pickpockets and others on more deadly
assignments. He nodded once, a bare tilt, to acknowledge his men
spaced about the huge square in a carefully controlled octagon of
protection. A tap on his sword alerted his men and as one the group
strode lazily over