Malcolm (Book 1, The Redemption Series) by S.J. West Read Free Book Online

staircase.
    He's handsome in a dashing sort of way with brown hair and eyes. I notice him scan the crowd before him as he descends the staircase until his gaze rests on me. He smiles. It's the type of smile my father has given me countless times, one of unabashed pride.
    Yet, why would he feel anything for me, much less pride? And why is he glowing just like my father?
    As he stands in front of the empress, he bows to her deeply.
    “Emissary Alburn,” Empress Catherine says, “it's lovely to see you again. I hope your overlord is well.”
    “Overlord Devereaux sends his deepest regrets that he can't be here in person, your majesty,” Jered says. “He hopes the tribute he has sent will make up for it.”
    The royal page walks up to Jered and takes his memo-card. After the page inserts the card into his device and the amount of the tribute is uploaded onto the holographic display, I can hear the faint gasps of the crowd around me. The sum overshadows all of the other tributes paid that night. You would have to add up all of the other overlord’s tributes and multiply that sum by ten just to come close to what Overlord Devereaux made for the royal family in the past year.
    “My, my,” the empress says, looking and sounding happier than I've ever seen her, “Overlord Devereaux has obviously been very busy this year. Please give him our best regards and gratitude when you return home.”
    Jered bows to the empress once more.
    “I will, your majesty.”
    Empress Catherine stands from her throne to address the crowd.
    “Now that the tributes have been made, please enjoy the revelry for the rest of the evening,” she announces, clapping her hands twice signaling the musicians situated on the balcony behind her throne to begin playing the tune of a waltz.
    I keep my eyes on Jered and ask my father, “Why does he look like you to me?”
    I don't want to ask why a man I've never met before is glowing in mixed company, but I have a feeling my father will know exactly what it is I'm asking without me having to spell it out for him.
    “Because he's as devoted to you as I am,” my father answers.
    I tear my eyes away from Jered and look at my papa.
    “Who is he to me?” I ask.
    “Someone who would lay down his life to protect you,” my papa tells me in a whisper. “Just as I would.”
    “Andre.”
    I look away from my papa and find Jered standing in front of us, extending his hand out to my father.
    My papa shakes the other man's hand vigorously. “Jered, my old friend, it's good to see you again. Once a year just doesn't seem like it's enough.”
    Jered's gaze turns to me, and he smiles kindly.
    “You're even lovelier than the images your father has sent of you over the years, Anna,” Jered says, leaning in and kissing me on the cheek like we've known each other forever.
    I don't take offense to the rather intimate act. For some reason, it feels natural coming from him, like he's a long lost uncle or old friend.
    “Thank you,” I say to the compliment.
    As I look into Jered's kind, brown eyes, I see a love there that I don't quite understand. It isn't the love of a man for a woman, but one I've seen in my father's eyes, like I'm his daughter too.
    “Have we ever met before, Mr. Alburn?”
    “Once,” he says, “but it was on the day you were born which means you wouldn't have a memory of our meeting. And please, call me Jered.”
    “You knew my mother?”
    Sadness enters Jered's eyes, briefly eclipsing his happiness to see me.
    “Yes, I knew Amalie quite well. Her passing was a great loss to all of us.”
    “Us?” I ask, finding this an odd thing for him to say. “You and my father, you mean?”
    Jered glances in my father's direction like maybe he's said too much.
    Before I can get any sort of clarification, the trumpets blare again causing the revelry in the room to come to a complete stand still.
    “Ladies and gentleman,” the herald says, “Emperor Augustus Charles Ronaldo Amador.”
    I look to the