The Stolen Brides 02 -His Forbidden Touch Read Online Free PDF Page A

never changed.
    Tying the pack of supplies closed, Royce
straightened and led Anteros to a sheltered place behind an
outcropping of rock, away from the wind. He scattered a small
sackful of oats across the snow and dropped the reins to the
ground. The well-trained destrier would need no other urging to
stay here until his master returned.
    As he changed into his old climbing boots,
Royce tried not to notice how the air seemed clearer in these
familiar mountains, the sky above a brighter blue, the scent of
pine sweeter. All day, he had tried to ignore how right it felt to
be here. To be home .
    He swallowed past the lump that filled his
throat. It would do no good to torment himself with hopes of
returning. His homeland had become forbidden ground to him.
    On the day he was banished in disgrace.
    And if Aldric had meant to offer pardon or
reprieve, he would have said as much in his missive. Instead, he
had issued orders. Demands. And cunningly used six simple words he
knew Royce could not ignore.
    Your country has need of you.
    Slinging the rope over his shoulder, Royce
set off toward the path that led upward into the clouds, rubbing
one gloved hand over his stubbled jaw. After seven days of travel,
with little sleep and less attention to his appearance, he was
hardly fit for an audience with royalty.
    But that pleased him. ‘Twould do well for
Aldric to know from the start that he was not the same brash youth
who had left four years ago, at the age of three-and-twenty. Being
forced to make his way as a commoner, to live by his wits and his
blade, to eke out a living as a mercenary or guardsman had a way of
changing a man.
    Slowly, Royce’s frown curved upward into an
unrepentant grin. In truth, some part of him was eager for this
meeting, had longed for it during the years of exile. He had a few
things to say to his former king.
    And he looked forward to something else as
well.
    Mayhap, if the prince had accompanied his
father to this isolated abbey, Royce would have the chance to see
his old friend Christophe again.
    ***
    His boots made no sound on the worn stone of
the abbey’s courtyard, since he wore no spurs; ‘twas an honor
reserved for knights alone. Even after all these years, Royce had
not grown used to the absence of that sound, the familiar ting that had once accompanied his every step.
    The monks awaited him, appearing out of the
mist like a gaggle of small brown geese. They had no doubt seen him
battling his way up the ice-slick mountain. He had made the ascent
in a little less than three hours, despite his fatigue, earning a
few bruises and a cut in his palm along the way.
    The brothers gathered around him, one of
them taking his climbing gear while the others ushered him through
a battered oak door. He had to duck to follow them, straightening
to his full height inside a cramped entry hall that smelled of
incense and dampness and age. The door slowly creaked shut behind
them, cutting off the sunlight. And the rest of the world.
    It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. A
clutch of candles flickered on a table to one side, huddled beneath
a statue of some saint or other, offering little light and less
warmth. From a distant chamber, the sound of monotone male voices
filled the frosty air with ethereal music.
    The entire place seemed steeped in holiness,
purity, virtue. He felt as out of place as a fire-breathing dragon
among soft, fluffy sheep.
    One of the brothers came forward with a
pitcher of water and a strip of cloth to tend his injured hand, but
Royce waved him away impatiently. “Where is the king?”
    None of the half-dozen men around him
answered. Apparently this was an order devoted to silence, for they
used gestures rather than words to indicate that he must first
remove his weapons before they would allow him farther into their
sanctuary.
    He complied without argument. In a matter of
minutes, his sword and knife, used in countless battles against
faceless enemies, nestled on the table amid the