Masque of Death (Kormak Book Nine) (The Kormak Saga 9) by William King Read Free Book Online Page A

human beings for them?”
    “Yes.” She looked up at him and saw something strange written on his face. It might have been sadness. “You don’t believe me.”
    “Unfortunately, I do.”
    “Why, unfortunately?”
    “It does not matter. Take off your clothes.”
    “What? Now hardly seemed the time.”
    “You said you would do anything I asked. Think of this as another test. A final one.”
    So the Guardian was not so different from other men after all. Well, if this were part of the price of freedom she would pay it. She had paid it before.
    She stripped slowly, folding her clothes one by one and setting them down on a chest of drawers. She turned to face him and saw appreciation in his eyes.
    “Lie down on the bed.” She did so, wondering why he had produced the knife. She was still wondering when he drew the razor sharp blade across her throat.

Chapter Five
    A servant rapped on the door. “Breakfast is served in the main dining room.”
    Kormak rose from where he lay. Rhiana stirred next to him. “My head,” she said. “It feels like a mast fell on it.”
    “If you will drink the local wine,” Kormak said.
    “Oh,” she said. “It’s all starting to come back to me. That is embarrassing.”
    “I don’t think anyone noticed anything you said or did.”
    “Except you. I hope.”
    “Except me.”
    “It seems we are back where we started.”
    “We’re not aboard a ship. I find that a bonus.”
    “You know what I mean. What are we going to do?”
    “Nothing has changed,” Kormak said. “I’m still a Guardian, and you still want to go back to Port Blood. We talked about this on the Pride of Siderea .”
    “You don’t want anything to change. You want to stay just the way you are.”
    “I see that some of the wyrmspike wine is still in your blood. You’re very argumentative this morning.”
    “It takes two to make an argument.”
    “You get no argument from me about that.”
    “Well, that’s a novelty.”
    “I believe the Governor is waiting for our presence.”
    “And you change the subject, as always.”
    Kormak shrugged, rose from the bed and started to get dressed. “I have work to do here and a limited time to do it in.”
    “So you’re off to seek a new way of getting yourself killed.”
    “I hope not. I hope I’m about to start discovering who tried to get King Aemon killed. If I don’t, I may get myself killed. Prince Taran does not like me, and he likes failure even less.”
    “I don’t know what I’m going to do about you.”
    “You don’t need to do anything.”
    “I wish that were true.”
    “Get dressed,” Kormak said. “We are keeping the Governor waiting and Admiral Zamara too.”
    “I don’t think they will be shocked. Not with the way everybody was behaving last night.”
    “Zamara is quite an impressionable soul.”
    “I think he’s going to be out of his depth here.”
    “He might surprise you.”
    “I certainly hope so. For his sake.”
    Rhiana began to get dressed. Kormak watched her as if it was the last time. She was certainly very beautiful, and he would be sad to see her go. But the longer she stayed with him, the more danger she would be in.
    They strode down the stairs into a huge dining room. The Governor was already present, but there was no sign of his female companion from the evening before. Zamara was there along with Terves. The Governor looked up as Kormak entered and said, “Good morning, Guardian. I trust you slept well.”
    “About as well as everybody else,” Kormak said.
    The Governor looked at Rhiana appreciatively and said, “I do not doubt that for a second.” He gestured to the collection of bowls on the table and said, “Help yourself to whatever you want. We do not stand on ceremony here. It’s not like at the King-Emperor’s court. We are somewhat less formal here.”
    “I noticed that last night.”
    The Governor looked away and made a deprecatory gesture with his right hand. “I trust you will not judge me by