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Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
Chelsea Chaynes [Battle for t Battle for the Womb 1 [MF] (epu

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.His parents were the most straight-laced, law-abiding people he knew.They never gossiped or gambled.They rarely even drank.“Forget the apothecary,” said his mother.“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”“Tell me, then.”“Some things it’s better not to know.”She was shaking like a twig in a storm.As absurd as her fears might seem, it was clear that to her, they were absolutely real.Marius felt an icy chill along his spine, like the time his sister had dropped a snowball down the back of his shirt.“Explain this plan to me.Where am I to go? I’ve no money to travel with.”“Away from Osler.Your father and I will catch up.”She tried to push him toward the door, but he wouldn’t budge.“What about Laelia?” If the danger was real, they couldn’t leave his sister behind.His father entered the kitchen with a rucksack of his own heaved onto his wiry back.He moved to the larder, snatching up supplies: the rest of the day’s bread, a bunch of carrots, a pair of wrinkled apples.“I’ll run and fetch Laelia.You leave now and get a head start.”Marius gaped.His father was quiet and sensible by nature, the steady counterpart to his mother’s fire.If his parents were united in their determination to leave Osler, the situation was serious.“What’s Gratian going to say?” Laelia’s live-in lover wasn’t the friendliest of men.His father shook his head.“He’ll have to let her go.If he doesn’t, he’ll regret it.Get moving, son.”Marius went to the entryway, grabbed his cloak, and slung it around his shoulders.His parents’ sincerity had convinced him to follow their directions, at least for the time being, but he could not pretend he understood what was going on.“Are you in trouble with the Imperium?”“Yes,” called his mother.“We’ll explain later.”What could his quiet, reclusive parents have done that would induce the empire to hunt them down? He stuffed his hat on his head and grabbed a blanket from the nearest bedroom.“I’ll help you fetch Laelia.” Strength in numbers, when it came to dealing with Gratian.A loud noise made him jump, and he turned.Someone was banging on the front door with something heavy.“Out the back, quickly!” shrieked his mother.Marius lost no time in following her.It appeared her lifelong fear was justified.Someone really was after them.His father yanked open the back door to a wall of orange livery, and a host of imperial guards swarmed into the house.∞Marius sat at the kitchen table with his mother on his left and his father on his right.Guards encircled them.His stomach was in knots, and so far nothing was happening either to alleviate or to sharpen his fears.He and his parents were being held here for some event yet to come, and the guards refused to answer his questions.His parents surely knew something about what was happening, but when he sent them desperate, questioning looks, they stared down at the table and didn’t meet his eyes.Turning from them, he looked to the guards, trying to determine if they really were Legaciatti.They did have the sickle and sunburst insignia, but did that prove anything? Anyone could make up an insignia and sew it to a uniform.The guards were intimidating, each of them carrying a sword and pistol at his belt as well as a heavy, bronze-tipped stick.Perhaps the stick was for beating people into submission.Or, now that he thought about it, for knocking on doors.So far the guards had not been violent.One had grabbed his mother when she tried to slip away, but not roughly.Marius recognized the guard standing across from the table as the one he’d seen outside Lev’s earlier in the day.“Could you just tell us what’s going on?” Marius blurted.“The emperor will be along shortly,” said the guard from Lev’s.Marius laughed.This was all a joke, surely.The emperor would not have come personally for his mother; if she were truly in trouble, he’d have sent his guards for her.“The Kjallan emperor?”The guard gave him a look.“What other emperor is there?”The Kjallan emperor—ridiculous.His mother stared straight ahead, stony-faced, wringing her hands in her lap.His father, as always, was an open book, his face etched with worry lines, but he did not seem surprised.That was the oddest thing about this affair.Marius’s parents seemed to have expected this to happen.Even planned for it.Marius tried something else.“May I have some water?”After a moment’s hesitation, one of the guards looked around the kitchen, spied the water pitcher, and poured him a glass.He set it in front of Marius.“Here, sir.”Sir.Marius almost laughed.He lifted the glass and drained half of it.All at once, the guards shifted, turning toward the front entryway and dipping their heads as another man entered the room.This, Marius supposed, was the emperor, or at least someone pretending to be the emperor.He was average in height.In fact, Marius probably had an inch on him.The emperor, if indeed that was who he was, was black-haired and fine-featured.He didn’t look much like his profile on the Kjallan tetral.The emperor was known to be crippled, but this man wasn’t limping.Marius looked down at the man’s feet and saw a normal boot on the right, leather and mud-spattered.On the left was a sort of wooden shoe.He’d heard that One-Legged Lucien walked with the aid of a prosthetic.Was he looking at that famous prosthetic now?The supposed emperor turned to his mother.“Sabina,” he said, holding out his hand.Marius let out his breath in relief.This was a mistake.Sabina was not his mother’s name.These people, whether imperials or charlatans, had come to the wrong house.His mother stiffened and planted her hands in her lap, refusing to clasp wrists.“You’re too late.He’s grown up, and you can’t have him.He’s no use to you, anyway.He’s got no education and no magic.”Marius blinked, stunned by this response.The supposed emperor turned to his father and again offered his arm.“Anton.”Marius’s father lowered his eyes, but he extended his hand and clasped wrists.Now the man turned to Marius himself.“Your name, sir?”Marius reached out and clasped his wrist.“Marius.But I think you’ve come to the wrong house.Those aren’t their names.”“It’s the right house,” said the emperor.“And those are their names.It’s wonderful to meet you, Marius.I’m Lucien Florian Nigellus, emperor of Kjall.You and I are cousins.”Marius gaped.“You can’t have him,” said his mother [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]