Devil's Angel by Mallery Malone Read Free Book Online

and no one was there to aid her? His thoughts returned to the moment he’d entered the chamber. Remembering how defenseless Erika had been filled him with unaccountable anger.
    Except that she had not been defenseless. Releasing her, Conor turned to retrieve her dagger. Straightening, he hefted it in his hand, testing its weight and balance. The dagger was truly a work of art. It was a miniature of her broadsword down to the purple crystal set in the crosspiece.
    Erika watched a humorless smile lift the right side of his face. “It would behoove me, I think, to remember never to invoke your fury, Lady Death,” he said, balancing the blade on the tip of a finger. “Do I want to know where you hid this?”
    Her cheeks flamed. “It is a hair brooch.” She pulled the thick braid of hair over her shoulder, parting the strands to reveal a pale leather sheath woven within. “I would have used it to kill you, when the opportunity arose.”
    He stepped away from her then. For the first time, Erika hated what she was. She waited for words of disgust or condemnation from him.
    There were none. Instead, he held the dagger, hilt-first, out to her. “Do you still wish to kill me?”
    Taking the dagger, Erika gave his question the weight it deserved. She could sense the beginning of a fundamental shift in her world, a shift she wasn’t sure she was prepared for.
    But there was one thing she was sure of. She looked at Conor. His stance was relaxed, open, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. Despite the weight of the chains, Erika could have easily plunged the blade into his heart before he could raise his hands to defend himself. Looking into his eyes, she realized he knew it too.
    Reversing the dagger, Erika handed it back to him. “Nay, I do not wish to kill you. Do you wish to kill me still?”
    A laugh escaped him, brittle and dry. “Is everything a challenge to you, Angel?”
    Her chin jerked up. “Life is a challenge, Devil. I must constantly battle it for what I want.”
    “And what do you want?”
    “Survival and freedom, for myself and my brother,” she replied without hesitation. She looked down at the chains encumbering her. “I would give anything to be free.”
    “I can give you both, after a fashion.” He held a key aloft.
    Hope warred with caution as Erika regarded the key. Nothing had been handed to her since her father’s death seven years ago. Besides Olan, there was no man left alive that she trusted. How could she trust a man she had first met over crossed blades?
    Conor tucked her dagger into his belt and moved toward her. “Trust is not a simple thing for me, Angel, but I do hold high to honor. You would seem to have some of that. Therefore, a measure of freedom will be yours.”
    Freedom! Tears stung her eyes as the chains fell from her wrists and ankles. So intent was she on being rid of the iron fetters that she almost missed his words. “What do you mean, giving me a ‘measure’ of freedom?”
    Instead of answering, he called for one of his guards. The soldier was shorter than Conor but just as bulky, with deep auburn hair contrasting his dark beard and unfriendly green eyes. She knew if Conor gave the order, the warrior would slay her without compunction. Or at least, he would attempt to.
    Erika deliberately turned her back to him and faced Conor. “What do you mean by measure of freedom?”
    She watched as he gathered the chains in his massive hands. “Freeing you from this pit is the only measure of freedom I can give you. I cannot have you disrupting the dun any more than you have. Padraig will guard you until I decide your blood-fine.”
    “And why should I pay a blood-fine when you know I did not raid the village?”
    Any trace of humor he may have retained vanished. “Perhaps you do not have a true understanding of your plight,” he replied, his eyes wintry. “At best, you are a hostage of war with no one to ransom you. At worst, you are one of the fuidir , with no rights save