Ward Against Darkness (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer) Read Online Free PDF

moment?”
    “Because she didn’t correct Lyla’s assumption.” So they were good there, at least until Allette revealed her reasons for lying. They’d be long gone before then. “Perhaps she really wants to help, and letting Lyla believe you’re Quirin is the easiest way to do it.”
    “You don’t really believe that.”
    No, but she’d hoped Ward would.
    “We can’t risk getting caught. We have to leave.”
    She couldn’t argue with his logic—as much as she really wanted to. Macerio was a greater danger than the bounty hunters and starvation combined. “Fine. Let’s go.”
    “Really?”
    “You think we should discuss this further? I might change my mind.”
    “Nope, now is good.” He rushed to the window and looked down. “Roses? Really? What are the odds we can sneak out through the front door?”
    “There’s a servant in the hall. She’ll probably alert Macerio if it looks like we’re leaving.” Dropping two stories into the rosebush had little appeal, and Ward didn’t have the skill to scale along the wall until it was safe to jump down. “However, we might be able to use the front door if we just look like we’re going for a walk.”
    “With you dressed like that and me with my rucksack?”
    “I’ll have to change. But if you drop your bag out the window, all we’ll need to do is get outside. Then we can make our way back to it.”
    “Do we think Quirin would go for a late night walk? Particularly since he just arrived?”
    “If we can get out the door before the servant tells Macerio, hopefully it won’t matter.” She brushed past him to the window ledge. The brief contact between them tingled through her, and she clenched her jaw against the sensation. “Give me a few minutes to get back into that dress, then come to my room.”
    Relief flashed across his face before melting back into exhaustion. Goddess, how she wished she’d already taken care of the remaining bounty hunters and this place was safe.
    She climbed back to her window and hopped into her room. A soft thump and rustle of dry leaves indicated Ward had dropped his rucksack into the rose bushes. Now, all they needed was to saunter away. She changed out of her old clothes—tossing them and her sword out the window to join Ward’s bag—and pulled the dress back on. A knock on the door a moment later, and Ward entered.
    She turned her back to him, revealing the untied laces of her bodice. He stepped close, his fingers brushing her bare back as he reached for the ties. A shiver swept over her. The memory of his deft fingers bathed in multicolored light tracing the veins in her hands flooded her, and the feel of him checking her lacerations with a feathery touch burned across her cheeks. They had kissed. Twice. But she didn’t know what that meant, and there hadn’t been a good time to figure it out since they’d left Brawenal City. It seemed the time would never be right.
    Perhaps that was the way it should be. The nature of her existence made things complicated, and the nature of who she was, or rather who she’d been, made it worse. Ward gave life. He might have power over the dead, but life was his true skill, his calling. Hers was death. She even embodied it now.
    She wondered what kind of spell he’d done to her. If there were a way to figure out how long it would last. Or if he could do it again.
    He tugged the laces tight, closing the bodice, and she concentrated on the restriction to her ribs and breath instead of the myriad questions. She would close up all thoughts of Ward and what she was until… Until she didn’t know when.
    Bound, physically and emotionally, she gripped Ward’s arm and they headed out the door. The servant didn’t stop them, and they slipped down the stairs. Music drifted from the great hall. The muted roar of dozens of conversations mingled with a lively tune. The party was still going on even though it had to be approaching dawn.
    A woman laughed, the bright sound cutting through