The Sword and the Sylph (Elemental Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

title for an odd girl. But naught about her was common. Her hair was like spun cornsilk, long and flowing, lifting around her in the breeze. It was such a light honeyed color that it almost seemed to him as if it were silver. Her lips were full and pink, her eyes dark blue like mountain bilberries. And her skin looked soft and smooth, and so pale that the noblewomen would envy her for the appearance that they strived so hard to attain.
    She wore a thin silken gown of white and light blue with tight fitting sleeves and long flowing tippets hanging down from her elbows. And around her head was a woven wreath of small dainty flowers of yellow and white making her look like a Queen of the Fae pe ople. She smelled liked the fresh air after a spring rain mixed with the scent of lilacs that clung to her wherever she went. She said she was an elemental of the air, and to him that described her well. She was light and airy, breezy and fresh. Her essence called out to him whether she knew it or not, making him feel more alive than he’d felt in years.
    “Now, let me go,” she said. Her clear , deep blue eyes begged though her words were calculated and cool. How could anyone be frightened of such a gentle girl? She looked as if she needed a strong man to protect her, and he couldn’t believe she’d do anyone harm.
    “I would make a deal with you,” he said instead . “You get me into Castle Calila without anyone knowing why I’m there, and I won’t expose you to Lord Solomon as the spy he’s been trying to hunt down and kill.”
    “But you mean to be a part of attacking my father’s castle,” she protested.
    “Same as you meaning to be a par t of attacking Banesmoor. So the way I see it, we are even.”
    “I cannot allow Banesmoor to attack Calila.”
    “And I cannot allow you to give information that would seal the doomed fate of Lord Solomon and his people either.”
    “I won’t do what you ask.”
    “Then I have no choice but to bring you to before the lord of Banesmoor.”
    He reached out for her but once again she disappeared from his sight. He grope d at the air, but couldn’t find her. Then he saw her horse turn and ride off quickly, and he rushed to his own steed to follow.
    “Sir Braden,” called out Sir Sam uel, riding up to join him. “I saw you groping at mid-air in an odd fashion.” He cocked his head and studied him as if he thought he were addled. “What were you doing, if I may ask?”
    “I am following someone,” he said, mounting his horse.
    Sir Samuel looked in the distance at the lone horse riding away and then back to him. “You are chasing a horse without a rider?” he asked. “I hardly think Lord Solomon would find that courageous. Mayhap he was wrong in choosing you to marry his daughter after all. I am not sure you would be able to protect her as promised.”
    Braden watched the horse disapp ear in the distance and knew he couldn’t follow without looking like a fool. He’d pledged his fealty to Lord Solomon now, as well as accepted the betrothal of his daughter. As a knight of his word, he would follow through with what he’d started.
    “If you would be kind enough to tell Lord Solomon I would not be joining him back at the castle, I’d appreciate it.”
    “Another horse to chase?” the man asked with a smile.
    “Nay. A spy to catch,” he answered, taking off in the direction of Mount Calila to do the job that was now expected of him.

Chapter 4
     
     
    Portia rode like the devil, calling upon the wind at her back to help her make it to Castle Calila in record-breaking time. She glanced back over her shoulder once more, but to her relief it didn’t seem as if Sir Braden was following.
    She rode through the gates, slipping out of the saddle m ade for a man, and all but throwing the reins of the horse at Vance, the stablemaster, as he ran out to join her.
    “Welcome back, Lady Portia,” he said, walking the horse next to her, keeping stride with her own pace. “And how