Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1) by LeAnn Anderson Read Free Book Online Page A

acknowledge her as the only possibility.”
    Arya snorted. “Next you’re going to tell me you believe the rumors that there was an unknown princess who survived Agrona’s attack.”
    Ryder shrugged. “Well, look at all of the problems Queen Rhiannon and King Ithel had conceiving during their marriage, not to mention the misscarriages, the children who were stillborn, and the children who didn’t make it past their first week of life. Everyone assumed that there was a curse. It stands to reason that they might have hidden away the first healthy child they had in order to make sure that the curse didn’t affect that child.”
    “Well, I think Agrona killed each and every one of her nieces and nephews to ensure her brother had no heir but her,” Arya said. “I also think that Ithel suspected his sister and, if there really was some unknown princess who was never presented to the people, he was hiding the kid from her. That had to be hard on them, though, a pregnancy every year for over two-hundred years, each one ending in tragedy.”
    “Maybe it’s Tesni.”
    Arya snorted at that as she began setting out food from their packs. It was a warm night, with no need for a fire that would only give them away, anyway. “Will you listen to yourself?” she asked. “Tesni Redleaf is the last child in all the five kingdoms that I would ever suspect of being some secret princess.”
    “Didn’t Knives say he found her wandering the streets at age four, with no clue who her parents were?” Ryder asked.
    “Orphaned at four does not a secret princess make,” Arya said. “At any rate, I’m sure someone would have noticed if Rhiannon was pregnant, and someone would have been needed to help care for the child, someone would have been needed to help cover up the pregnancy, and servants to help her give birth and prepare a safe place for the child to be hidden away. With that many people entrusted to a secret, some of them would have talked.”
    “You’re probably right,” Ryder said. “There’s no secret prince or princess, but that just begs the question. Why hasn’t Agrona come to simply claim the orb?”
    “Because she killed her brother and sister-in-law,” Arya said. “Why else would she have fled after they were found murdered?” She bit her lower lip in thought. “Unless she believes the rumors, as well? She could be waiting to see if this kid shows up to see who the orb lights up for.”
    “But you don’t believe.” It was a statement, not a question.
    “I believe there’s something keeping her from showing up. Maybe she knows that being a murderer makes her unable to claim the throne, and she’s hoping to make it glow through sorcery? Who knows?”
     
    
     
    The next morning, bright and early, Arya and Ryder broke camp. They ate a quick breakfast of some nuts and berries and got back to tracking Tesni. The girl had left an easy trail for them, which pleased Arya. She was beginning to think that, when they got back to camp, she would need to change her bet. And maybe Ryder is right, she thought. I am starting to feel like a mother to her.
    The trail led right to the ruins, and there it seemed to stop. “Maybe they’re just not awake yet?” Ryder suggested, hope in his voice.
    “Perhaps,” Arya murmured. “Tesni does like to sleep late when she can.”
    Suddenly, Arya and Ryder found themselves surrounded by six nasty looking guards. “Six against two,” Ryder said. “I like those odds.”
    “It really isn’t fair to them, though,” Arya agreed.
    Both Rangers drew out their dual battle blades and started hacking away at opponents armed only with spears. When only one was left, Arya jumped off her horse, knocked his spear from his hand with one blade and held the other to his neck. “So, where did the lot of you come from?”
    “We’re…we’re guards…for Her Majesty…”
    “Her Majesty?” Arya asked.
    “Queen Agrona… Or at least…she will be queen…when she gets the