Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) by Elizabeth Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

discover every last secret within its walls. Then he’d return to the king and take his just reward. Marriage to an earl’s daughter, the king had said. That was tantalizingly close to the possibility of being named earl himself.
    The memory of Domina’s face surfaced, disrupting his musing. Was she innocent of her father’s manipulations? Would she be destroyed, an unintended victim of this shadow war? Luc shook his head once. Drugo offered his warning for a good reason. However beautiful the lady was, she couldn’t stop him from carrying out his mission. He fought back a nasty feeling. Would he really sacrifice an innocent woman for his ambitions?
    Or she wasn’t so innocent. Those cool eyes held such intelligence…perhaps Domina knew far more than she was telling.
    He sought out Octavian and told him of the developments. He related nearly all he’d been told, only concealing the fact that he possessed a marriage contract. The pious Octavian would never approve of the idea of suggesting a marriage simply as a means to gain information. Luc needed a trustworthy companion at his side, and he couldn’t risk losing Tav. So he’d just keep the more unsavory tools of his mission to himself. In all likelihood, he wouldn’t even need to mention the contract, let alone use it. He didn’t want to be shackled to any woman who couldn’t help him advance. Even if she was more intriguing than any other woman he could think of.
    He told Octavian that they’d leave within the week. “And be warned, I don’t know how long we’ll stay at Trumwell,” he said.
    “As long as necessary to learn the truth,” Octavian returned, with the easy confidence of the innocent.
    “God help us.”
    Tav smiled. “I’m sure He will.”

Chapter 5

    Trumwell Castle fared well during Domina’s short absence. Beatrice, the grey-haired maidservant who was most often at Godfrey’s side, reported that he was as comfortable as could be expected.
    “He asked after you a few times, my lady,” she added. “I told him you’d be home soon.”
    Mina smiled, pleased that her father remembered her without her face being right there to remind him. Perhaps there was hope after all, as Joscelin promised.
    The countryside had been quiet, Haldan reported when Domina returned. He’d surely enjoyed the fortnight when he could pretend the castle was his to command, though he also sounded relieved that nothing actually caused him to leave the warmth of the fireside. He fancied himself a commander, but he had the temperament of a lackey. He never thought for himself, at least not beyond his next mug of ale.
    She stopped in her father’s room, but found him sleeping, so she slipped out again. She’d have to warn all the servants to keep guests away from the building. In fact, they’d have to avoid all mention of it, or her father.
    * * * *
    A few days later, Domina walked down a spiraling staircase to a tiny chamber in the base of the massive stone structure. She unlocked a wooden door on the back wall. She pulled it open and sighed when she saw the emptiness inside.
    Somehow, she always hoped the next time she opened this door, the treasury would be full again. But it was always empty. The few shelves were bare, when they’d once held boxes of coin and valuable goods. The floor in the center of the closet was bare stone. Mina wished that the heavy wooden chest she remembered from her childhood would reappear, but all her wishes were for naught. The chest was gone.
    How was it possible that the greatest part of the de Warewic fortune vanished in the night, without a clue as to who spirited it away? The castle had never been taken by force, and if it had been such an enemy, they surely would have known! Domina found it difficult to believe that a thief could have infiltrated the grounds, but what other possibility was there?
    Only one. Her father must have done something with the treasure—those gold ingots and silver coins all struck with the symbol