Knight of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor Read Free Book Online Page B

him more venison.
    Varian carefully chewed and swallowed before he spoke again. “Do you have a name, lass?”
    “Merewyn.”
    It was a beautiful name that fit her ethereal grace. In the fey Adoni language, a merewyn was a sea witch. A tempting mer-creature that would grab unsuspecting sailors from their boats and drag them down to the bottom of the sea and trap them there to serve them until they grew tired of the man’s presence or form. Then the merewyns would feed them to the sharks.
    Perhaps that was a fitting name for a woman like her.
    “Would you care for wine?” she asked softly.
    “Please.”
    She lifted the cup to his lips, then tilted it a bit too much. The wine ran into his mouth, stinging his cuts and causing him to gasp at the new pain. He choked.
    She pulled the cup away and quickly wiped his lips with her towel. “Forgive me. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
    Varian closed his eyes. Even through the agony of his body her touch soothed him. How could he feel anything other than the pain of his beating? It didn’t make sense, and yet somehow he did. Somehow she touched him through it all, and that honestly scared him.
    As she fed him a piece of bread, he caught a whiff of her sweet skin. She smelled of rosewater and lilac and it made him wonder what it would be like to lay his head in the crook of her neck and just inhale her fragrance.
    What it would be like to touch her smooth, soft skin. Taste her mouth and have someone so kind…so human, in his bed.
    But then he knew better than to even think that. No matter how much he might wish otherwise, he was Adoni. Conceived by deception and sold for one woman’s vanity. It wasn’t for him to have a human. He didn’t deserve such comfort. All he deserved was hatred and scorn.
    Angered at the thought of her kindness and at the fact that she was weakening him, he pulled back. “Leave me.”
    Merewyn was stunned by his harsh words. “What?”
    He pinned her with an icy glare that cut straight through her. “Leave,” he growled in a tone so guttural, he reminded her of a gargoyle.
    “Merewyn?”
    She flinched at the sound of his mother’s voice. She didn’t want to leave him alone to their cruelty again. How could she? No one deserved this.
    “Did you hear me, scab?” Narishka snarled.
    Still she hesitated even though she knew she’dmost likely be beaten for it. She didn’t want them to renew their cruelty to a man who was so obviously suffering. Her stomach tight at the thought of what more they’d do, she took a moment to clean his swollen face one last time.
    Varian met Merewyn’s gaze and saw the compassion and regret that filled her. She gently wiped his mouth before she released him.
    He had to clamp his swollen jaw shut to keep from calling her back. How ironic, their cruelty hadn’t once moved him to tears or pleading, but the thought of her leaving him almost did. It was why she had to go.
    Weakness was death to a creature like him. Strength. Solitude. Those were what he needed to live and thrive.
    And when she paused at the door with the tray held in her hands to look back at him, it was all he could do not to beg for mercy.
    Instead, he glared at her, hoping…no, praying that she didn’t return. He couldn’t afford it. Closing his eyes, he let the pain take him away from any solace. Let it seep through him until it was all he felt. It allowed his magick to grow in strength, but it still wasn’t enough to get him out of this. Not yet. But with any luck, if they kept beating him, it would.
    Then he would show his mother exactly what she’d bargained for. He would happily give her a taste of his hell-born powers.
     
    Merewyn felt a single tear slide down her cheek as Varian dipped his head again so that he was looking at the floor while his dark hair hid his features from her. Wiping the moisture away, she hated the thought of what else they’d do to him. His face was so misshapen, and his eyes had been filled with