Twin Passions: 3 Read Online Free PDF Page A

hour, knowing each second, each minute, could be the last that she could hold back this pain.
    Not that she or the others could do much if anyone or anything managed to slip past such vast power.
    As the tendrils of magick wove across the land, Astra could feel the faintest disturbance reaching out to her, calling for her.
    The demand was faint, weak, though not in peril. There was no danger, yet the demand was one she couldn’t ignore either. It pulled at her. It poked at her like a child determined to be heard.
    Shifting restlessly, she glanced around the hall, uncomfortable with ignoring the demand, yet not entirely certain from where it came. Closing her eyes, she allowed her senses to open further, to expand and reach out to the call. It could be a Sorceress in need. Although they did not face peril at this moment, it did not mean they would not face it soon. As her answering magick touched the call once more, she sensed, rather than Sorceress or other female magickal being, it was instead an animal in need.
    She never knew which creatures, with or without magick, would reach out to her, or even if they would. The affinity she seemed to have with the creatures of Covenan drew her often from her duties at the castle. Until now, that hadn’t been a problem.
    But with Queen Amoria and her heir Serena having been stolen from the castle, and all Sorceresses on high alert and determined that their last remaining princess, the Guardian of the Power of Covenan, not be taken from them as well, Astra fought to ignore the summons.
    There was no true peril.
    Frowning, she attempted to identify the call, but either it was too immature or too weak to identify itself.
    Whichever, she knew that ignoring it would not be an option soon.
    “I can sense the disturbance as well,” the Sorceress standing guard with her, Aerin, Keeper heir of the Whispering Mountains said quietly. “You cannot ignore it.”
    “I cannot leave.” Astra sighed in regret. “Should our Guardian have need of me…”
    The other Sorceress gave a slow shake of her head and a gentle smile. “Even I hear the call the land is sending out to you, Keeper.” She smiled back, though the somber concern in her gaze belied any amusement or joy. “Go, heed its summons, I will call another to stand guard over the Guardian’s quarters with me.”
    The land was indeed calling out to her, not just the creature in need. This was a demand that even the land itself felt important. A strident summons, one without blood, but one of imperative determination that she heed the demand reaching out to her magick with such fierce voracity.
    “Think you need a Sorceress to accompany you?” Aerin asked, her gentle violet eyes watching Astra closely. “Perhaps Camry has rested enough to ride along.”
    Astra gave a sharp shake of her head. “There is no danger. Perhaps one of the Unicorns in need.” She frowned. “The call is one of an animal spirit, though nothing in dire danger.”
    “So I felt as well,” Aerin agreed. “I’ll call Camry to stand with me and we will watch over Serena as you do what you must.”
    Astra feared the summons was more than a simple animal in need though. The call came from the Emerald Valley, the site of the battle that had raged between the Guardian Keeper of the lands, Marina, and the dark magick that had attempted to take the valley where the Griffons’ lair was located.
    Her chest clenched at the thought of the Griffons as she all but ran through the tunnels to reach the cavern where several Unicorns awaited the Sorceresses’ needs for transportation.
    The new stable caretaker, Azeron, an old and wizened fellow of undetermined age, was securing the light leather saddle the Sorceresses used on the stallion Tripelli as she entered the room.
    As she reached the beast he slid the leather halter over its head and handed her the reins.
    “The Eastern passage into the Emerald Valley has been cleared.” He spoke softly, his voice roughened with