Phantom Series Boxed Set by Julie Leto Read Free Book Online

when he’d entered her mind with his sensual suggestions. She might have made a worthy conquest, if not for the fact that he had only one thing on his mind at this moment—escape.
    “What do you think, beast?” He scowled at the animal, still unsure after all these years if the animal was friend or foe. “Is she the one who shall be the instrument of my destiny?”
    The cat replied by licking its paw.
    With a frown, Damon stood and assessed his surroundings, his eyes drawn instantly to the door across the great hall.
    “Or perhaps she already is.”
    He strode down the stairs, invigorated by the stretch of his muscles, the power in his thighs and shoulders. He breathed in deeply and the smells of the sea were unmistakable. With a backward glance, he noted that the woman who had freed him remained on the floor. A pang of something he assumed was guilt nearly caused him to pause, but he managed to push the intrusive emotion aside and concentrate on his goal.
    Freedom.
    Nothing would delay him.
    Nothing and no one.
    Not even the beautiful flame-haired woman who’d freed him from his prison.
    At the top of the stairs, the cat howled.
    Damon continued to the door.
    He grasped the latch but didn’t yet pull. What manner of insanity existed outside these castle walls? He touched his waist. His sword was long gone. Machines that flew might be just one insignificant hint of how the world had changed. Damon was an educated man, a resourceful man. But even he understood that a man out of time would be vulnerable in ways he might not adequately anticipate.
    Still, he couldn’t remain here any longer. Rogan’s castle brimmed with dark, evil magic. Questions ranging from the deep and philosophical to the shallow and mundane coursed through his mind. Were his brothers still alive as was he? Had they found his sister? Vanquished Rogan? There was no ocean near Valoren, so he knew the castle no longer existed there. How did one move a castle? And was he now in England? He’d heard the strangers speak as they milled beneath his portrait prison. They did not sound like any of his countrymen, but they spoke the mother tongue. At least, a bastardization of the language. Had his country changed so much over the years?
    He pressed down on the latch.
    Nothing happened.
    He tugged and pulled, bracing his arm on the doorjamb to create leverage. He buoyed all his strength against the lock, straining until sweat broke out on his brow.
    From across the hall, the cat hissed.
    With a curse, Damon stopped. Apparently, the witch on the landing had released him only so far. What magic did she brew that kept him entrapped?
    He crossed the hall in seconds, then took the stairs three at a time, catching her as she raised herself on her arms and groaned.
    A sensual sound, even when laced with pain, “Move slowly, my dear,” he said. “You’ve suffered a great shock.”
    She defied him instantly, spinning to face him with a decided bounce on her backside.
    A rather lovely backside, truth be told.
    “Who are you?” She winced as she smoothed her hand over the back of her head. “Or should I ask, what are you?”
    She slid her palm over her forehead, squinting beneath her fingers despite the dim light on the landing. Damon glanced at the torches, unlit for all these centuries. He wondered if there was a way to light them when, suddenly, they flamed to life.
    Interesting.
    “I could ask you the same question,” he said, extending his hand to her.
    She looked at him defiantly, her expression crisp with suspicion.
    “I mean you no harm,” he emphasized.
    “Then explain the knot on the back of my head.”
    “A consequence of the dark magic imbued in these castle walls, I suspect.”
    “Your magic?” she asked.
    He sniffed derisively. “Hardly. I wouldn’t have trapped myself here, would I?”
    Though her wary expression did not falter, she accepted his help in standing. Her hand was small in his, but her intrepid comportment compensated for her