Barb Hendee [Mist Torn Witche Witches in Red (epub)

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.To solve a disagreement in which two people remembered a situation differently.The possibilities were endless.But Céline was still so fragile after their experiences up at the castle—in which they’d been engaged to catch a murderer—that so far, she’d not been up to presenting the sisters as a pair of seers.Amelie didn’t wish to press her and had decided not to use her own new power until Céline was ready as well.But this all left Amelie with nothing to protect and nothing to do.In addition to feeling useless, she was beginning to feel restless—and that only made her angry with herself for not appreciating their good fortune enough.“Morning, Lieutenant,” a voice called out from behind her.“Morning, Simon,” a familiar voice called back.Amelie froze in front of the market stall where she stood.Slowly, she turned her head to see Lieutenant Jaromir walking into the market, wearing his chain armor and tan tabard.He hadn’t spotted her yet.Other villagers began calling greetings to him now.Jaromir was well liked by the people he protected.What was he doing out here, just walking in the streets? The summer had been awfully quiet.Perhaps he was bored, as she was.Ducking down slightly, Amelie couldn’t help looking at him for a few moments.Perhaps thirty years old, he wasn’t exactly handsome, but he wore a small goatee around his mouth and kept his light brown hair tied back at the nape of his neck.From his weathered face to the scars on his hands, most elements of his appearance marked him as a professional soldier.He was tall and strong and seemed comfortable inside his own skin.However, he was also arrogant and too fond of being in control, and he would do anything—anything—he deemed necessary to protect Prince Anton.Both Amelie’s opinion of Jaromir and her relationship to him were.complicated.In truth, there was no relationship, but he’d made hints that he’d prefer to alter that state of affairs.So, at the prospect of him walking into the market, she did the only thing she possibly could do and dashed around the back of a stall to hide before he spotted her.Yes, it was cowardly, and she knew it, but facing him in the street would have been much worse.She’d had to politely greet him the few times that Anton had insisted the sisters come up to the castle for a banquet, but once formalities were over, she’d been able to avoid talking with Jaromir due to the various activities that took place in a crowd, such as everyone eating too much food or the inevitable card games that followed.Out here, in the market by herself, she’d have no excuse not to speak with him if he approached her.So—though partially ashamed of herself—she crouched behind the stall of a wool seller and peered around the edge toward the street.“What are you doing, girl?” asked the aging wool seller.“Quiet,” Amelie told him.“I don’t want someone to see me.”He glanced down the street.“The lieutenant? Did you break the law?”All the people here referred to Jaromir as “the lieutenant,” as if it were some kind of title.He had authority over everyone except Prince Anton.He liked it that way.“No,” Amelie answered.“I just don’t want to have to talk to him.”The old man raised an eyebrow.But he had no chance to respond, as a loud commotion broke out from the direction of the outer village gates.Amelie moved up from her crouched position to see what was happening.A rider came pounding up the narrow cobbled street, straight toward the market, pushing his horse at a pace much too fast to be considered safe inside the wall surrounding the village and the castle.The population here was large and condensed.People were not allowed to gallop their horses through the streets.But the rider didn’t slow down.Villagers screamed and dodged out of the way.A few fruit carts were overturned, and he just kept coming.Amelie stood, wondering what was about to happen, when she saw Jaromir position himself directly in the rider’s path.“Stop!” he ordered.What a show-off, Amelie thought.The rider fought wildly to pull up his horse and nearly smashed into Jaromir before he managed to get the creature stopped.Jaromir didn’t even flinch [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne