Impostress by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online

no, she wouldn't consider the night.
    On the table next to the bed a jug of wine and two mazers were waiting. As planned. She lifted up one cup. There on the bottom of the stem an X had been scratched into the silver. Lowering herself to her knees, she felt in the rushes near the table and found two small vials. The potion. And the blood. Would it work? She remembered the determination and spark of intelligence in Kelan's gray eyes as he'd kissed her. In that quick glimpse she'd recognized that he wasn't a man easily fooled, nor would he be forgiving if he ever discovered he'd been duped.
    But she had no other option.
    Carefully she slipped the vials into a safe place in the rushes, near the head of the bed where they wouldn't get crushed by a misplaced boot.
    Faintly, she heard the strains of music. Downstairs the feast had begun. It was only a matter of time before she had to face Kelan again. No doubt he'd be more than angry. Beyond furious. At her. For embarrassing him within minutes of being wed.
    She shuddered. He would never let Elyn forget how she'd shamed him on their wedding day. Nor would he let her feign sleep tonight to avoid his wrath. No doubt he would wake her and demand his rights as a husband.
    Kiera would have to stay awake to make sure he drank the sleeping potion and somehow keep him at bay until he fell asleep. Once he was no longer conscious, she could sprinkle the blood on the linens. If she dared.
    Sending up a silent prayer, she walked to the window and stared into the cold winter night. Spangled by moon glow, the curtain wall shimmered silver. Beyond the thick battlements, somewhere in the surrounding forest Elyn waited for the man she loved.
    A hollow feeling crept through Kiera's heart and she felt a second's envy for her sister. Elyn had found true love, or thought she had. Would Kiera ever know that particular and divine bliss? Would she ever fall in love? Would she ever care about someone above all others?
    Frowning she experienced another, darker thought. If Elyn and Brock had such a deep bond, how would they ever break it? Why would her sister give up that which she most desired? Elyn had risked much to be with Brock of Oak Crest. As had he to be with her. So what was it that would force her back to Lawenydd? Kiera watched a cloud pass over the moon.
    Who was to say that Elyn would return?
    She promised.
    Kiera fingered the cross at her throat.
    So what? Has she not lied before? Did she not promise your father that she would marry Kelan? Did she not break that vow? So why would she return for you?
    The thought curdled in Kiera's stomach, and though the doubts assailed her, she wouldn't believe them.
    Surely Elyn wouldn't leave her to live the rest of her life caught in a lie, pretending to be wife to a man who was not her legal husband, forever an impostress.
    Or would she?
    * * * * *
    Icy fingers of the wind snatched at Elyn's hood and slapped at her cheeks. Her lungs burned and exhaustion threatened to overtake her, just as it did the horse. Lather dampened the mare's coat, and her once long strides had slowed. "Come on, come on," Elyn whispered, urging the lagging beast up a final hill.
    She was edgy, her stomach in knots.
    What if Brock wasn't waiting for her?
    What if he'd changed his mind?
    What if ... what if he was toying with her?
    He wouldn't! And yet, had there not been a time when he'd been untrue?
    She gritted her teeth against the cold air and the grim thoughts slipping like ghosts through her mind, haunting her.
    'Tis only the night getting to you. Have faith.
    But the nagging doubts persisted as her teeth chattered and Royal, the game little mare, labored up the rise. This temperamental jennet was not her usual mount. Elyn had been careful to steal a horse she'd never ridden before, a mare Kiera favored, one that wouldn't be easily missed and associated with Elyn. Leaving the castle had been tricky, but dressed as a peasant boy, as she had often enough been in the past when