Lord of the Shadows by Jennifer Fallon Read Free Book Online Page B

Antonov ordered. “Find those who did this and punish them.”
    “I will, sire.”
    “Good luck, Kirsh,” Alenor added.
    “Thank you.” He said nothing more to his wife.
    There was nothing else to say.
    “I'll have the fleet ready to sail for the Baenlands within two weeks,” Antonov informed him. “You have until then to find out what happened in Tolace. We'll pick you up on the way to Mil.”
    “I'll get him back, Father,” Kirsh promised.
    A fleeting smile, full of pride, flickered over Antonov's face. “It will be as the Goddess wills it, son. And in this, I'll soon know if she is with us.”
    The comment puzzled Kirsh a little, but he was too used to his father's devout belief in the Goddess to question it. He saluted the Lion of Senet and the Queen of Dhevyn and wheeled his mount around. Sergey and Alexin followed him to the head of the column. Kirsh gave the order to move out and the force headed toward the gates, their pennons snapping in the brisk breeze, their uniforms smart and fear-inspiring in the bright light of the second sun.
    Kirsh glanced over his shoulder when they reached the gates. Alenor stood there with his father, a small, fragile figure leaning on the powerful strength of the Lion of Senet.
    There was still no sign of Marqel.
    They traveled the 120 miles to Tolace in two days. Kirsh pushed the troops hard, but nobody complained. Every man knew they were on a mission to rescue the Crippled Prince, and if some of them thought him not worth the effort, there wasn't a man among them foolish enough to voice his opinion in the hearing of the prince's younger brother.
    Kirsh commandeered the Hospice when they arrived in the seaside town and ordered everyone involved in the affair brought before him for questioning. He had quite deliberately left Barin Welacin back in Avacas. Despite the Prefect's assurances that nobody could get information out of a reluctant witness as fast or as efficiently as he could, Kirsh still remembered what had happened to Dirk when he foolishly made a comment about the best way to interrogate Johan Thorn. That one carelessremark had earned the unsuspecting boy from Dhevyn the nickname “The Butcher of Elcast.” Kirsh had no desire to earn an equally brutal title for something even less substantial.
    Anyway, if it turned out he couldn't learn what he needed to know, he reasoned, there was always the threat of sending for the Prefect of Avacas. For some, just the thought of attracting Barin's attention would be enough to loosen their tongues. Kirsh wanted to do this on his own. He wanted to be the one who discovered the truth.
    He wanted to be the hero.
    The first person they brought before him was Sonja, the Shadowdancer who had been nursing Misha at the Hospice and the one who had allowed him to meet with Lady Natasha Orlando, the impostor later identified as Tia Veran.
    Kirsh had taken over the administrator's small, cluttered office. He sat behind the wooden desk, flanked by Sergey on his right and Alexin on his left. The woman was visibly shaking when they admitted her. She stopped and looked at the three of them nervously. There was no chair for her to sit on. She stood before them like a prisoner awaiting sentencing.
    “I am reliably informed it was you who arranged for my brother and Tia Veran to meet,” Kirsh began, looking at her coldly.
    “We didn't know it was Tia Veran, your highness,” she protested. “Prince Misha seemed to know her. He said nothing about her true identity.”
    “You were one of the people responsible for the protection of the Crown Prince, my lady. Don't you think part of your duties was checking the credentials of anyone seeking an audience with him?”
    The Shadowdancer shook her head. “It wasn't like that, your highness. Lady Natasha never sought an audience with the prince. He sought
her
out. He made us find out where she was staying and had us take him to her cottage. They met several times, your highness, but it was always