Spiritwalker 3: Cold Steel by Kate Elliott Read Free Book Online

General?” I asked politely, even
     if I really wanted to bite and claw.
    “Cat, I am not your enemy. Please be assured that Tara Bell’s child will always have
     a home with me if she needs shelter. I want only to protect you.” I had never met
     a man who could speak in such sentimental platitudes and yet have it sound so genuine
     and unforced. It was one of the most irritating things about him.
    “Protect me? You betrayed me!”
    “The cacica was required by law to exile you to Salt Island. What you don’t understand
     is that Salt Island was the safest place for you at that time.”
    “That you can say so with a straight face and such sincerity is almost admirable!
     Everything I did here in Expedition was machinated by you.”
    “Perhaps not quite everything. Things are not as simple as you believe they are. But
     this is not the place to discuss them.”
    We crossed under the shadow of the gate and into the old city withits encircling stone walls, legacy of an earlier time. For generations, only families
     with Council ties and wealth were allowed to own property inside the walls, while
     newer districts were built outside the walls. When the Council still ruled, the gates
     were locked at dusk and even in the daytime any person entering the old city could
     be searched. Now the toughs swarmed right in after us, dogging our heels. Their presence
     heartened me.
    I addressed Prince Caonabo. “Your Highness, did you know that the general believes
     I am to be the instrument of his death? That is why he conspired with your mother
     the honored cacica to have me permanently quarantined on Salt Island.”
    “I want the truth,” said Caonabo.
    We halted at the base of the wide steps that fronted Council Hall. I caught sight
     of Luce pushing through the crowd. Idiot girl! Rory gestured to warn her off.
    The prince’s attendants unfolded the carriage steps.
    Before any of us could alight from the carriage, a young man descended the steps of
     Council Hall with a mocking grin that I wanted to punch right off his face. His red-gold
     hair seemed to blaze like flame and his blue eyes to kindle with heat, or maybe those
     were sparks from his fire magic. Really, the last person I wanted to see in a situation
     like this was James Drake. I curled my left hand into a fist as he came up.
    “Why, Cat, I’ve been waiting all night for you to show up.” As an afterthought, he
     acknowledged the prince with a careless wave. “Your Highness, my understanding of
     Taino law is that murderers are sentenced to labor in the cane fields for life. Or
     they are assigned as a catch-fire to a fire mage. We all know she’s responsible for
     the Exalted Queen’s death. Once she is convicted, I will be happy to take her off
     Taino hands. I could use a remarkably pretty catch-fire.”
    Naturally Prince Caonabo had too much dignity to respond to this rude outburst.
    But I didn’t!
    “James Drake! Why are you standing here waiting for me like a lovesick but rejected
     suitor?”
    The general pulled firmly on the rope to keep me on the seat. “Don’t be rash, Cat,”
     he murmured. “This is not the place or time for a pissing match.”
    “I wasn’t waiting because I want you!” Drake’s gaze flicked around the crowd: the
     Taino soldiers, the crowd held at a prudent distance by wardens, Camjiata’s retinue
     of veterans, and the guards stationed at the Council Hall doors. He pitched his voice
     louder. “I hope you finally understand that I slept with you only to show the cold
     mage he wasn’t so high and mighty as he thought he was. Because there’s really nothing
     a man hates more than knowing his wife is a
whore
.”
    The word stung. “You lied to me and got me drunk.”
    “The ease with which I got you to have sex ought to give any man pause, knowing how
     easy it was to tip rum down your throat and coax the clothes off your admittedly attractive
     body. Still, it scarcely matters now. I’m a magnanimous man.