Mist-Torn 01 - The Mist-Torn Witches by Barb Hendee Read Free Book Online Page B

of murder.
    Then his eyes narrowed, almost in anger. “You’re speaking the truth to me? You really are a seer?”
    This was shaky ground. The first time she’d spoken to him, she’d had no idea he was the prince of a great house. If he ever suspected that she’d been faking…
    “Yes,” she answered standing straight, “like my mother before me.”
    The anger in his eyes faded, replaced by what looked like pain. “But you told me to marry Joselyn. You told me I’d be happy.”
    At that, Céline had to call upon all her skills. Something had gone terribly wrong in his life, something to do with Joselyn, but when he spoke her name, only pain and sorrow rang in his voice, not anger. That suggested Joselyn had not made him miserable, nor had she run off with one of the castle guards.
    He was in mourning.
    Joselyn was dead. Céline would have staked her life on it.
    Standing even straighter, she challenged, “And weren’t you happy?”
    His expression collapsed inward, and he looked away. “Yes,” he answered after a long moment. “I was happy.”
    Abruptly he stood up and faced her again. All traces of sorrow were gone, and he was the haughty prince once more. Without another word, he turned and strode for the door, jerking it open and walking out.
    At a loss, she followed him. Only a few paces into the great hall, he stopped and said over his shoulder, “You are free to go.”
    Go where?
she thought in sudden despair, looking across the hall at Amelie.
    But as Anton began walking toward the exit again, Jaromir stepped forward and stopped him. “My lord, I had another thought.”
    He leaned in and began speaking quietly in the prince’s ear. Anton frowned at first, but then he began listening in earnest, and finally he turned to glance back at Céline.
    “Very well,” he said slowly. “But you’ll have to show them everything.” He paused, as if somehow the words Jaromir had whispered in his ear were beginning to take hold. “Show them the shop first, and then arrange a room for them in the castle.”
    He walked out.
    What shop?
    Jaromir smiled at Amelie, and Céline had a sinking feeling in her stomach. He wanted something more from them.
    *   *   *
    Amelie kept close to Céline as they both followed Jaromir back through the bustling town, but she almost couldn’t believe how much her life had been altered in less than a full day. Their home was gone, and since she’d spent half the night unconscious, she had no idea where they were or how far they’d come.
    Besides, after Damek’s attempt to kill them—and her stabbing one of his men in the throat—they couldn’t go home, even if someone there might take them in.
    Worse, that bastard Jaromir kept smiling at her, as if sooner or later she’d find him charming. She wished she could run her dagger through his throat. Just thinking of how he’d knocked her out so easily and then trussed her up made her blood run hot. If he weren’t so damn strong, she’d have gotten away from him outside the moat this morning.
    But…since coming inside the walls, her opinion of the situation itself had altered. Cows, goats, and chickens added to the noise of people doing business here, and everyone seemed warmly dressed and well fed. This was nothing like their drab home village, nor was it like the grand cityshe’d seen on her one visit to Enêmûsk, which had been sharply divided between the rich and the starving.
    She’d never seen anything like this place.
    No one seemed afraid of the soldiers, and many people either nodded or called a greeting to Jaromir as if they liked him. He stopped in front of a solid one-story wooden building that had been stained a rich brown, with yellow painted shutters.
    “This is it,” he said.
    Amelie barely glanced at the building and had no idea why he’d pointed it out, but then he opened the door and stepped inside. “Come on.”
    Once inside, Céline sucked in a sharp breath, but it took Amelie a moment to