The Sin War Box Set: Birthright, Scales of the Serpent, and The Veiled Prophet by Richard A. Knaak Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t come back. Things will be all right—”
    “But they won’t be! I heard at the inn! There are Inquisitors from the Cathedral of Light arriving tomorrow and someone hinted of Peace Warders from the Temple soon after! It’s happening just the same as with me!”
    Her announcement jolted him. He had been told nothing of Inquisitors or Peace Warders coming to Seram. The arms of justice for each of the two sects, the two groups acted as judges and guards. True, this involved the slaughter of their own, but where Uldyssian was concerned, there was hardly a need for either element.
    The farmer stood there for a moment, trying to think. It was the noblewoman, however, who spoke first.
    “We made the mistake of letting them act before we did, Uldyssian! You cannot let that happen! They will twist everything around, so that even if you are innocent, your guilt will be obvious to all! You have to stand up to them! Speak out defiantly, as you have always done! Your friends will rally to you, I know it! Neither the Cathedral nor the Temple will be able to use your hatred of them against you, then!”
    “I—” There were points he would have argued, but they faded to nothing under the arresting beauty of those eyes. He finally decided that Lylia was right; Uldyssian would make use of the lesson of her family to save himself…and her, too.
    “You must do it…” she breathed. “Please…for our sake…”
    Without warning, the noblewoman pulled his face close to the bars, then kissed him. As the farmer stood there, completely at a loss, Lylia, her face scarlet, fled the area.
    Uldyssian watched her vanish. Blinking, he suddenly recalled the door. As the guard had done, the farmer tested it. The door held, as it should have.
    To Uldyssian, that settled everything. Lylia was absolutely right. He needed to stand up for himself. The Inquisitors—and the Peace Warders, assuming that they, too, were on their way—would be looking for guilt, not innocence.
    He would do his best to leave them disappointed.
     
    Serenthia pulled back out of sight of the Guard headquarters as Lylia passed. She had no real reason for doing so, save for what she realized was likely jealousy in what to her had been a ridiculously short time, Uldyssian had clearly fallen for the blond woman. She had been able to do with her mere appearance what Serenthia had for years often hoped of doing. Even as a child, she had been fascinated by Uldyssian’s perseverance, his inner strength, especially the way in which he had managed the terrible deaths in his family.
    Lylia vanished in the direction of the Boar’s Head. Cyrus’s daughter waited a few moments more, then stepped from behind the corner of the smithy—
    At which point she collided with Achilios.
    “Serry!” he managed. “Where did you—”
    “I’m so sorry!” Serenthia felt her face flush. While she had spent much of her life pursuing Uldyssian, Achilios had done the same in regards to her. It was not unflattering, either, for he was handsome and well respected and treated her the way a woman wanted to be treated. Common sense said that the trader’s daughter should have accepted his courting with pleasure, but although Serenthia welcomed the hunter’s company, she could just not yet give up on her dream of gaining Uldyssian’s love.
    Of course, that had been before the arrival of Lylia.
    “I was looking for Mendeln,” Achilios finally managed, his own countenance somewhat reddened. “But this is a happy accident!”
    His cheerfulness did not suit her at the moment, not with Uldyssian locked up for foul deeds he could never in his life have committed. Her annoyance with Achilios’s pleasantry must have shown, for the hunter quickly sobered.
    “Forgive me! I didn’t mean to be light! Were you on your way to see Uldyssian?”
    “Yes…but I didn’t wish to disturb him. He had another visitor.”
    “Oh?” The hunter’s brow arched. “Ah! The fair Lylia…”
    It made matters