Heart of the Flame by Lara Adrián Read Free Book Online

people she does not know--one of them scowling and grumbling at her as though she were a base criminal deserving of the stocks. For pity's sake, Kenrick, she is being kept here as your prisoner, or so you said as much when you confronted her a short while ago."
    He felt the crease in his brow deepen at his sister's charge. An accurate one, he admitted with some reluctance. "I cannot afford any risks, Ariana. We cannot afford it."
    "Kenrick is right, my love." Braedon rose from the chair he all but dwarfed, and strode to his wife's side. He put his arms around her, gently gathering her into a protective embrace. "Until we have more facts, we must be cautious with our trust."
    "What are you saying?" She glanced from Braedon's face to Kenrick, worry etching the corners of her mouth. "What is going on here? For days--ever since you brought Haven here--the both of you have been discussing things in hushed voices and behind closed doors. Nearly every time I enter a room where you are, conversation ceases or makes an abrupt switch to mundane topics I know to be of no interest to either of you."
    "We have not wanted to worry you, Ana--"
    "Well, I'd say it is too late for that."
    "You have already been through much, my love," Braedon began, but he was cut short by Ariana's dismissive little scoff.
    She shook her head, creating a small tempest of movement in her long blond hair. "Husband, do you credit me to be some delicate thing that will break with the slightest whiff of distress?"
    Braedon arched a dark brow. "Not at all."
    "Then tell me what's happening. If there is trouble here, I want to know. All of it." She pinned a stern look on each of them, a softly censuring gaze that set both men to staring at their boots. "Dear Lord. It has to do with Silas de Mortaine, doesn't it? Your friends' deaths...the raid on their keep--de Mortaine is responsible, isn't he?"
    "Yes." Kenrick nodded, remorse lying cold as frost in his gut. "Although if I blame him, I must blame myself as well. I should never have involved Rand in my findings of the Chalice treasure."
    "Oh, Kenrick. What did you tell him about it?"
    "It was not so much that I told him about the treasure, but what I gave him. Before I left for France last year, I entrusted Rand with the safekeeping of a key of sorts. On surface, it did not appear to be much--a bit of tooled metal wrapped in parchment--but it might be all that prevents de Mortaine from recovering another of the Chalice stones."
    "Or the very thing that leads him to it," Braedon added gravely.
    "And you believe that's why Greycliff was attacked?"
    "We are certain of it, love."
    "Mother Mary," she whispered. "Poor Rand and his family. Poor Haven, to have been made to bear witness to the horror of such a thing. My heart breaks for all of them."
    Braedon smoothed his hand over her silken pate in a comforting manner, but the gaze he shared with Kenrick betrayed his unrest. His concern that the dark magic he had battled once before--that which had scarred him and nearly robbed him of the woman he loved--was clear in his stormy eyes. The danger might well come to roost once more, visited this time at very gates of Clairmont.
    Kenrick knew the same dread. He had worn it like a robe since the day Braedon and Ariana had rescued him from imprisonment and torture at Silas de Mortaine's hands.
    "The seal was missing from its hiding place at Rand's keep. That woman recuperating abovestairs is likely the only person who might know what happened to it. She is our sole witness to the attack that night. Any answers we might have will come only from her."
    "And so you will keep her here on suspicion until she submits," Ariana replied. "Even against her will?"
    "We must."
    "Ah, yes. I understand." Her expression was schooled, but the challenge in her eyes had dimmed little. "I wonder though...how does this differ from the shackles that de Mortaine placed on you, my beloved brother? Is one prison any more justified than another?"
    The