Lichgates: Book One of the Grimoire Saga (an Epic Fantasy Adventure) by S.M. Boyce Read Free Book Online

too thin.”
    The isen chuckled. “Not that sort of present. This is the Vagabond.”
    Carden paused, but burst into laughter shortly thereafter. He wiped a gleeful tear from his eye. Kara twisted her arm in the brunette’s grip, but the movement stung the bruises already there from her fall in the dirt room.
    The king studied her, and his smile faded. “What is that around her neck?”
    She followed his gaze, and a pang of regret made her swallow hard. The completely visible clover pendant hung next to her locket, its diamond still glowing blue.
    Without moving from his place on the steps, the king reached for the necklace. The pendant hovered in the air and floated in front of her eyes.
    He grinned. “I stand corrected. This is remarkable.”
    Carden walked down the final steps by his throne to stand in front of her, and she craned her neck to see his face. He seized the pendant in his thick fingers, but her hands rose to meet his in reflex.
    A wave of heat coursed through her at his touch, much like it had when Deidre grabbed her in the library. It shot through her veins, making her fingertips pulse. A spark cracked in the air between them, and Carden flew backward into his chair on the platform.
    The hall was silent. Her eyes widened. She couldn’t breathe. After all, throwing an evil king across the room had to be one of the easiest ways to die. A familiar thought tugged at her mind, but she pushed it away again to focus on the moment. The heat still circulated in her veins, though it was quickly dissolving once more into panic.
    Carden snickered, his laughter ringing in a higher pitch than before. The bellow coursed through the crowd of monsters as they followed suit.
    “Brilliant! A human who can use magic! She is the Vagabond after all. Have a seat, my dear,” he said, gesturing to the throne at his left. “I am afraid that it has been largely unused by the Queen for some time.”
    He shot a look to Braeden, who glared back.
    “That’s really nice and everything,” she said, her heart pounding too loudly for her to hear her own voice. “But I just want to go home.”
    “To your family?”
    “Yes.”
    “I would rather they join us here, if that is your only reason for leaving. We are quite entertaining. Deidre will even find them for you. Simply tell her where they are.”
    The isen smirked. Kara wasn’t getting out of this.
    “Now, sit,” Carden commanded.
    Kara tried to devise a more eloquent argument, but Deidre grabbed her arm. Before she could resist, or speak, or even look over, the isen dragged her to the throne and flung her into the stone seat. Kara’s back was tender from the impact, a massive bruise no doubt already forming on the space between her shoulder blades.
    A quick glance around the room confirmed her fears: each of the monsters in the hall watched her. Everyone knew, now, what she was, despite how the letter had warned her to be careful. Even Braeden studied her with a calculating expression. He glared at her, his stare intense and unbroken until his father commanded his attention again. She took a shaky breath and saw the red lizard from earlier dart through a few soldiers’ legs. It crawled along the floor, squirming and slithering closer to her seat.
    She finally let herself listen to the nagging thought which had been floating around the back of her mind since she’d opened the Grimoire.
    I’m not going to survive this world.

CHAPTER FIVE
    THE STELE
     
    Braeden eyed Kara as she sat in his mother’s old throne, but he winced and looked away when the spikes jostled in his wrists. The poison circulating through his blood had already scarred every vein. Even when he did get the cuffs off, he would not be able to think straight until he healed.
    His knees ached from the chilly marble, so he shifted his weight to ease the searing pain. A spike dug deeper and tapped his bone. He bit his cheek to keep from screaming and hunched his shoulders. In the floor’s reflection, Carden