The Kingdom of Eternal Sorrow (The Golden Mage Book 1) by C.G. Garcia Read Free Book Online Page A

permitted, finally losing the battle to keep the tears at bay. She had
never heard the language that he was speaking. She only knew the few phrases and
words in French and Spanish she could remember from school, but neither of
those languages sounded even remotely like the words he had spoken. His
language seemed to consist of mostly vowels with a few harsh consonant sounds.
    Where the hell was she?
    The man took a hesitant step towards the bed and stopped when Allison
whimpered in fear.
    I’ve got to get out of here! she thought frantically, her eyes
darting wildly around the room until they settled on the wide-open door across
the room. But—can I make it through before he can stop me?
     
    ***
     
    Aidric looked down at the girl’s tears in dismay.
    I’m frightening her. Although, I can’t say that I really blame her. Waking
up in a strange room with a strange man looking down at me—I imagine I would be
quite alarmed. He clenched his fists at his side in frustration. How in
the six hells can I make her understand that I mean her no harm when we can’t
even communicate?
    The language she had spoken was totally foreign to him. It was a tongue
that resembled nothing he had ever heard uttered, even in the strangest of
dialects, much less was it amongst the dozens of languages that the Master
Linguist, Zenas, had magicked into his memory.
    Even so, Aidric had hoped that she would at least understand Lamian.
Instead, she had looked at him as though his words had been the snarls of a
beast. He couldn’t even resort to reading her thoughts since touching a mind so
recently traumatized in such an invasive way could cause irreparable damage to
her psyche.
    I can’t stall any longer , he thought gravely. I don’t like
it, but I need Zenas’s help.
    Unfortunately, the only way the linguist would ever agree to magick the
Lamian language into her mind was by receiving King Diryan’s approval. The king
would undoubtable demand to see her first. Aidric had never spoken about the
Golden Mage legend with the king, or anyone for that matter. He had no idea how
the king would react to seeing the girl and realizing her probable identity. He
had wanted to bring Diryan as much information about her as possible to lessen
the chances of her being imprisoned, but without being able to understand each
other...
    A sudden movement in the corner of his eye interrupted his thoughts,
and Aidric turned his attention back to the girl in enough time to see her bolt
out of his bed, obviously heading for the open door. In a panic, Aidric raised
his arms and threw a paralysis spell at her. With a sinking feeling, he watched
her collapse onto her face without so much as a gasp onto the marble floor as
the spell overtook her.
    Now she will never trust me… he despaired. What have I done?
     
    ***
     
    A blast of what felt like hot air abruptly hit her from behind, and Allison
suddenly found that her limbs no longer obeyed her in mid-stride. The momentum
instantly had her diving forward until she fell flat on her face, her forehead
hitting the marble floor hard enough to make her see black for a few seconds.
She tried to cry out, but her voice didn’t seem to be working, either. All she
could manage was a strangled gurgle, along with short, shallow breaths. She
struggled to rise again, but her body simply would not obey her.
    Dear God, I’m paralyzed! she realized with horror. Somehow— somehow that white-haired man did it to me!
    Allison heard footsteps approach her from behind, and the man’s
strangely cut, brown leather boots came into her field of view. She tried
desperately to shrink away from them, to curl into a protective fetal position,
terrified that one of those boots would suddenly bury itself into her stomach
as punishment for trying to run away, but she couldn’t even so much as blink an
eyelid. She tried to speak again, ready to lose all dignity and beg for mercy
as she stared helplessly at the tip of his boot, but it was as if an