The Renegade's Heart by Claire Delacroix Read Free Book Online Page A

departure, Isabella went to
the kitchens to make her posset for Eleanor. She gave every
appearance of being absorbed by her labor as she ground herbs in
the pestle, but in truth, she was reliving Murdoch’s kiss.
    Still her lips burned. Still she tingled.
Still her heart had not entirely slowed its pace. Indeed, she had
been lost – with just a single kiss. Perhaps it was simply the
novelty of a first kiss that had made it so potent. Many sensations
dulled with repetition. In addition, she had been surprised by his
caress, which could have heightened her reaction.
    Or was it Murdoch himself?
    There was only one way to discover the truth.
The very idea of seeing Murdoch again, of kissing Murdoch again,
filled Isabella with agitation of a most pleasurable kind.
    Perhaps Murdoch intrigued her because he was
so different from the other men she knew. He was a knight and one
with rare charisma, the combination perhaps of his vividly blue
eyes, his powerful grace, his fleeting smile. He was audacious and
bold, cavalier in a way that made her heart skip. That he would
travel so far to ensure both justice and his brother’s welfare was
the stuff of tales.
    Aye, it might be novelty that intrigued
Isabella.
    She recalled the way Murdoch had blown her a
kiss. He had a flair that was uncommon, that was for certain. She
closed her eyes and felt his strong arms locked around her, the
heat of his words against her ear. She shivered, but not out of
cold.
    His family’s relic was gone and it had been
the hand of the Magdalene.
    This was no small token lost. Isabella
recalled how Tynan had let them look upon that very relic and touch
it, but only once when they were small. The bones of the saint’s
hand had been placed in a silver case shaped like a woman’s
forearm, studded with jewels. It looked almost like a glove, but on
the underside, there were panels of clear quartz that let one see
the yellowed bones. The fingers were outspread and Tynan had said
that it was laid upon the sick to heal them.
    Could it heal the sick? Isabella had always
wanted to know. She recalled asking Tynan if it were genuine and
being chided by her mother for such impertinence.
    Her aunt Rosamunde had laughed.
    And Isabella could recall the shadows that
had clouded Tynan’s gaze.
    This was why his family trade had troubled
him so. Her honest uncle had not been able to vouch with certainty
for the relics the Lammergeier had traded, bought and sold.
Isabella knew that Tynan had not been able to live with the
possibility that any item was less than its repute or that he could
be – however unwittingly – participating in a deception.
    Which was why he had needed to be rid of the
entire store of relics.
    It was the one issue over which Tynan and
Rosamunde had disagreed. Indeed, the division began earlier in the
family than that. Avery, Isabella’s great-grandfather, had had two
sons, Merlyn and Gawain, as different in nature as night and day.
Merlyn had abhorred his father’s trade and his son, Tynan, shared
his view. Gawain, in contrast, had been untroubled by any question
of authenticity in the relics he bought and sold, and his adopted
daughter, Rosamunde, had come to share his perspective.
    Did the dispute continue? Did one of her own
siblings secretly wish to continue the ancient family trade,
against Tynan and Alexander’s wishes?
    Why had Tynan not simply tested the power of
the relics, the way one would test the healing powers of an herb?
Isabella felt a new curiosity about the relics that had once been
housed at Ravensmuir, and a particular desire to see the hand of
the Magdalene again.
    What did Ross know of Seton Manor and its
relic? Had he truly visited there with the earl? What had he and
Alexander argued about at the Yule? Ross had departed early,
without saying farewell to any of them, and Alexander was
displeased to even hear his younger brother’s name.
    Isabella pursed her lips and ground the herbs
with care, reflecting upon the similarities