Unleash the Curse: An Imnada Brotherhood Novella by Alexa Egan Read Free Book Online Page B

aspirations and few connections. No wife. No issue. And no mention of Naxos. But Debrett’s didn’t know the half of it. Nor would Sarah if Sebastian had any say in the matter. It was too dangerous. As was Sir Dromon.
    As spiritual leader of the Imnada and head of the Ossine, Sir Dromon Pryor had always wielded considerable authority over the five clans. Since Gray’s banishment, that power had become absolute and his antagonism for de Coursy grown to hatred. Sir Dromon had vowed to bring down the insurrection led by the exiled ducal heir and see every shapechanger involved executed for their treason, as well as to eliminate any Other who knew of the Imnada’s existence.
    If the Ossine were involved, events had gone from treacherous to deadly.
    “This afternoon I saw Signore Ventrella. He had a bandage wrapped around his hand. Maybe he attacked Lucan. He was in and out of the drawing room last night.”
    “Ventrella can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. You think he attacked Lucan and came away with nothing more than a cut on his hand?”
    “He might have surprised him. Or he had help. Perhaps whatever these Naxos are, they’re stronger and more powerful than normal humans.”
    “Or perhaps the Naxos is simply the name of some exclusive gentleman’s club Sir Dromon sought entry to without success. Whatever it is, it’s not enough to accuse someone of attempted murder,” he reasoned, trying to look disinterested and unimpressed. Anything to turn Sarah from this line of reasoning.
    “Why would Lucan be trying to tell us about a gentleman’s club? No, there’s something linking the Naxos to the Imnada. I know it. Maybe we can find a reference among Duncallan’s books. He’s been studying the shapechangers for years.”
    “Exactly. So, don’t you think he would have recognized the word as soon as Lucan uttered it?” Sebastian handed the book back. “I appreciate your help, but you need to leave. If anyone catches you sneaking up here, Lucan’s life and all Duncallan and I have been working toward will be put at risk. You would be put at risk.”
    “What about Christophe and the Naxos? If the prince is linked to the attack on Lucan, I want to know before I . . . before I become his wife,” she said, smoothing her hands down her skirts, her expression bland as milk.
    “His wife.” Sebastian’s hands curled around the windowsill, his gaze focused upon the hills stretching gray and lifeless toward the northern tree-lined ridges, his mind seeing Sarah tumbled and starry-eyed, beckoning her husband to bed.
    But he was not that husband. And soon she would be someone else’s wife.
    It was time to put that dream away once and for all.
    “I can help, Seb.” She lifted her eyes to his, gray as the snow-heavy clouds beyond the window lit with flecks of gold. “We could work together to figure out what happened.”
    “‘We’? There is no ‘we,’ as you pointed out earlier today.”
    Though the thought tantalized with possibilities, all of them ending in tossed skirts, lowered breeches, and unbridled passion. A hard angry knot seemed to lodge in his chest, sucking the air from his lungs. He wanted to touch her, loosen the tight coil of her hair until it spilled over her shoulders and down her back. His hands became fists as the knot threatened to choke him. Wanting had nothing to do with it. He needed to keep her safe and away from Sir Dromon Pryor. Sebastian knew nothing of this mysterious Naxos, but Pryor’s menace was very real.
    “Do you know how much I’d love to tell you Christophe is involved? But I can’t. Marry your prince, Sarah. Marry him and be happy, but leave the Naxos to me.”
    *   *   *
    “Miss Sarah, why are you still here? The dinner gong sounded ten minutes ago.” Hester entered the bedchamber, last night’s evening gown slung over her arm, a sewing basket gripped in her hand.
    “Did it? Oh bother!” Sarah looked up from her reading, head aching with