The Void of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

not seem guilty, my dear, so that is in your favor. Lower the chaen slightly to be sure.”
    Suzenne flushed even more and tugged limply at the front of her bodice. There was no stain.
    Kranmir nodded and clasped his hands behind his back. “There are records, however, that an ancient Family in Dahomey was not afflicted by the kystrel’s taint. The only way to be certain is to see the shoulders as well. If you please, my dear. Or as I said, Captain Trefew will be only too eager to assist you.”
    Suzenne gave him a black, angry look. She nodded in meek compliance and carefully pulled down the chaen to expose her left shoulder, covering herself as best she could. Maia was furious, but of course this was all a playact for what would come next. She knew it with savage certainty. They were drawing out the charade to make their suffering more acute.
    “Thank you,” Kranmir said. “But just to be sure. The other shoulder too.”
    Suzenne obeyed and revealed her other shoulder, which was also free of any brand.
    Kranmir nodded with satisfaction. “Lady Shilton, you are my witness. So are these soldiers. Lady Suzenne Clarencieux is free of the taint. Now, Lady Maia. If you would submit to the same procedure, we shall examine you next.”
    His eyes looked into hers, and her suspicion was confirmed. Yes, he knew . . . he had probably known for a while. He nodded to Captain Trefew. Suzenne moved forward to help her, but the captain shoved her away. Maia cringed as she felt the hands touch her, yanking loose the girdle and tearing the sleeve of her gown. She wanted to strike out, to scream, but she endured the humiliation as he nearly ripped the dress from her. It was what he had wanted to do on that long-ago day when she had been taken to Lady Shilton’s manor, when her remaining privileges had been stripped away, as well as her clothes.
    Maia stood in her chaen, feeling the same awkwardness to be stared at by so many, but she lifted her chin in defiance and refused to cower. Trefew gathered up her gown in a heap under one arm and stared at her with vile emotions burning in his eyes.
    “Let me see your hand,” he said, gesturing for her right. She opened her palm and showed him the pink scar on it. He nodded, frowned, and then folded his arms.
    “Even the chaen does not conceal the kystrel’s taint on your breast,” he said sternly. “I am shocked that Richard Syon did not have you examined when you came to Muirwood. Did he know what you are? I cannot say the word, you know. Obviously a binding sigil is at work here.”
    Maia clenched her teeth as she stared at him in anger. She said nothing.
    “Your shoulder, please,” he said, motioning for her to bare it.
    Maia kept her expression as calm as she could. “I bear the mark,” she said simply, her voice quavering. “But I am not what it implies.”
    Kranmir smirked at her in response. “Show me.”
    Maia sighed, anguished, and slipped the chaen over her shoulder, exposing the hetaera’s brand. As soon as she did, a veil of blackness drew over her eyes like a cloud blotting out the moon.
    And then she was falling.

CHAPTER FOUR

    Gallows
    I t was a struggle, terrifying and sudden. Blackness shrouded Maia, enveloping her in dark coils of smoke and suffocation. She felt a wrenching sensation in her mind and body, as if her soul was about to be sundered. On instinct, she battled it, refusing to yield to the vapor that threatened to stifle her. She groaned and thrashed, trying to repel the invasion. It was like fighting off an ocean’s tide. There was nowhere to anchor her feet, no way to shove against the amorphous waves that wished to bury her alive. She was drowning in the blackness of the Myriad Ones.
    A sudden light pierced the darkness, knifing through it like a glowing Leering. That blackness melted away from her, unable to cling, and seeped through the stones and crevices of the rock around her instead. The Leering in the ceiling was blindingly bright, and Maia