Bodyguards by Kallysten Read Free Book Online Page B

other
place was like, but she doubted she’d find her favorite shampoo there.
    She finally closed the bag. The
sound of the zipper had never seemed so final. Before leaving, she took a deep
breath and looked at herself in the mirror. With flyaways that had escaped from
her ponytail framing her face every which way, she looked nothing like the
princess and potential ruler Brad claimed she was. She raised a hand to comb
her hair behind her ears, but froze when she saw the dried blood still staining
her fingers.
    Anabel’s blood.
    In her search for her present and
then in her packing, she had forgotten all about the blood on her hand. Shaking
hard, she turned on the water in the sink and washed her fingers, rubbing
frantically until her skin felt raw and no more pink swirled down the drain.
After she shut off the water again, she pressed her wet hands to her face and
took another look at herself. The panic lingering in her eyes made her look
even less like a ruler than a moment earlier. Maybe all that king needed was to
see her to decide she wasn’t a threat to him.
    She dried her face and hands,
picked up her bag, and finally left the bathroom. When she reached Brad in the
hallway, she didn’t say anything, but he smiled softly when he took the bag
from her and swung the strap over his shoulder. He led the way back down to the
kitchen. As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Vivien tried very hard
not to look toward the front room.
    When Brad gestured toward the door
the same way he had when summoning his magic earlier, Vivien held her breath,
expecting another show of lights. But while the doorway did glow, the effect
was much more subtle, as though sunlight were pouring in on a bright summer
day. She could still see through.
    Aedan was standing in the
driveway, apparently ready to come in. He nodded once, his gaze directed at
Brad when he said, “Thirty.” He then walked through the doorway, but rather
than entering the house, he disappeared in a flash of light. Vivien gasped.
Even after what Brad had showed her, she could barely believe what was going
on. Was this what that other man had done in the front room?
    “Where... What happened? Where is
he? Thirty what?”
    Brad offered her a small smile. “Thirty
seconds. He went ahead to check that the shields on the castle are still
secure.” His lips moved silently for a few seconds, then he held his hand out
to Vivien. “Are you ready to go back home?”
    “I am home,” she protested, but
even to her own ears the words sounded weak.
    She took his hand, clinging to the
very tips of his fingers, and let him pull her into the light.

 
     
    CHAPTER SIX
    Roseberry Jam
     
     
     
    A strange sensation coursed
through Vivien’s body, like tiny slivers of ice pressing everywhere against her
skin. Before it could become painful or even uncomfortable, she stumbled out of
the doorway. Brad released her hand and caught her waist instead, holding her
steady for a few seconds before he let go and took a half step back.
    “Sorry,” he murmured. “I should
have warned you. I didn’t realize it’d been so long you’d have forgotten about
Passing Through.”
    “Passing through?” Vivien
repeated. “Through what?”
    If Brad answered, Vivien never
heard him. She was too busy staring around her. She had walked through the door
of her house, and instead of stepping outside, she had entered a round room
paved in gray and black stones laid out to resemble the tattoo on Brad’s wrist:
three spirals linked together by organic-looking tendrils. She looked up; the
ceiling was maybe fifteen feet high, with lozenge-shaped windows at the very
top letting in a faint light. The walls were stone like the floor, with
arabesques of gray stones surrounding the room in a continuous spiral.
    “What is this place?”
    “This has been your family’s
estate for centuries. You were born here. It is your home. Come, please.”
    He opened the door for her and led
her down a long stone