Altered Destiny by Shawna Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

dismal, the lodging horrid. These lands are uncivilized. I even stopped at a tavern along the way, and the owner wouldn’t let me put my horse up in her barn. I had to sleep on the floor!”
    And what the hell did you expect? This is Calud. By an extreme act of will, Nathan held his tongue.
    The viscount scanned Nathan’s office then sniffed. Nathan followed his gaze. The stone walls were bare of decoration and there was scarcely room for his desk and the two chairs facing it. The only change he’d made when he took the room as his office was to have the men lay down wood over the stone floor. He didn’t mind the walls, but if he had to spend so much time behind a godsdamned desk, it wouldn’t be with cold seeping through the soles of his boots.
    Still, the small office was nothing to sniff at. His irritation mounted. He really wasn’t cut out to be a diplomat.
    “Commander, I pray things are going well in our defense of these northern lands.” The viscount touched his nose with a lace-trimmed cloth.
    No, they’re not, you pussyfooted, ignorant …“Your Excellency, the Svistra have attacked and burned three more villages since the thaw.”
    The emissary actually blushed. His small, porcine eyes gleamed. “Please, call me Fergus. Yes, yes, we’ve received that report but as there hasn’t been any news since, we’d hoped that it meant you’d chased these savages back north where they belong.”
    Fergus? Didn’t that mean “strength”? The viscount’s parents had been wishful thinkers. Nathan ran one hand through his hair. Did they read the part of the report stating he hadn’t caught a single Svistra associated with those or any other atrocities?
    Nathan tapped one of his letters. “There have been no further attacks in the last eighteen days and counting.”
    Fergus’s smile stretched his chins until it looked like four smiles on his face. “We knew it! That is excellent news.”
    “No. I don’t think so. You see, though they haven’t attacked, there have been reports of large bands in our lands.”
    “Well, follow them and destroy them.”
    “Have you ever tried to follow a Svistra?”
    Fergus’s eyes widened as his mouth rounded. “Surely the rumors that they can disappear at will or turn into trees are false.”
    “They might as well be able to. My best trackers can’t find them.”
    “Then get new trackers. Incompetence is not an excuse.” Fergus fluffed one of his ruffles.
    “Then perhaps I better employ a Svistra tracker. Because that’s what it will take.” Nathan struggled to lower his voice and failed. “King Leisle appointed me to this position because he thought I would be able to read the signs and best command his men. So you tell him I need more men. The Svistra are massing, and my instincts tell me it won’t be long before they swarm south like a blizzard, destroying everything in their wake.”
    Fergus paled, his hand fluttering near his many chins. “T-the castle at Newhaven is of course secure?”
    Nathan leaned back, clenched and then unclenched his jaw. “If I can’t stop them here, I wouldn’t bet on it.”
     
    Oren’s cough carried down the hall, though with less force than it had a few days before. Selia pushed her hip against the door. “I brought you breakfast. Are you feeling better?”
    “Yup. Can I get up now?”
    She set down the tray on a wooden chest then felt Oren’s forehead. There was no sign of fever. “One more day?”
    “Ah, Selia, it’s boring laying here doing nothing.”
    “You could read.” She handed Oren a bowl of boiled oats.
    “You know I don’t like to do that.” A petulant tone entered Oren’s voice. It was so much at odds with the raw hunger she’d seen in the Svistra’s eyes when she handed him a book that Selia lost her train of thought. She chewed on her bottom lip.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.”
    Oren gave her a clear look of disbelief. “Have you been taking Jaden food?”
    “Of course.” This morning