Untouchable by Linda Winstead Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

to her heart in an unexpected way.
    She’d had to test the love potion on someone, and Laris had been the logical choice. The handsome sentinel, one of the three who had accompanied the fat, grumpy diplomat who’d fetched her, was one year older than she was and relatively new to his position. He was a handsome young man, with hair fair like hers and remarkable brown eyes. To be honest, he was the only acceptable candidate in their party. If she was going to have a devoted and adoring man constantly at her side, then he might as well be young and easy to look at.
    Verity looked up at Laris, catching his lovely dark brown eyes and holding them with her own. “I am ready for summer. As soon as the sun sets, I grow cold.” She hugged herself, and very soon Laris was there, wrapping his strong, warm arms around her. She let him. She even rested her head on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart.
    All her life Verity had been told that she would be the wife of a great man, so traveling to the capital city to become empress did not scare her. It did occur to her, however, that Mavise had never told her she’d be happy in her new position. Not once. That didn’t mean she couldn’t or wouldn’t be happy as well as powerful. Mavise should’ve been more thorough.
    Verity should’ve thought to ask before leaving home, but she’d only recently begun to consider the matter.
    When she was in a position of power, she would make herself happy. She would insist upon happiness. With the help of the love potion, she could be assured that the emperor would adore her, but would she adore him? Would she feel a real, true love for the man she’d call husband?
    The future was uncertain, but Laris made her feel steadier and less afraid—even though she was not afraid. Not at all.
    His heart thumped steadily in her ear, and she took comfort from the sound. “Sometimes I get cold at night, too,” she said hesitantly.
    The heartbeat she listened to grew a bit faster. “Do you?”
    “Yes.” And sometimes she could not sleep. Some nights her thoughts spun and spun and spun, and all she wanted was something—or someone—to hold on to. “Perhaps when it is your watch you could...”
    “I could not,” he said hotly, before she had a chance to finish the invitation.
    What good was a love potion if she could not compel the afflicted man to do as she wished? “Please,” she whispered, “just visit me for a while. We cannot . . . well, you know what we cannot do. It wouldn’t be proper at all.” Very nice, judging by the way he held her, but not at all proper. “I don’t want you to think that I desire anything more than a friend’s comfort, but it’s a comfort I would very much like to have. Please, Laris. Please.”
    He sighed. “If you truly wish it.”
    “I do.”
    “I’ll visit you tonight if I can.”
    With her face against his chest, she smiled. Yes, the love potion Mavise had provided was quite effective and very handy.
Chapter Three
    HE argued with himself on occasion, but Alix couldn’t bring himself to entirely dismiss Sanura’s warning about violence within Vyrn. If she saw his own struggle, a struggle he successfully hid even from those who knew him best, then how could he dismiss what she claimed to see in others? As the days passed and the traveling party moved toward Arthes at an achingly slow pace, he kept a close eye on the young sentinel, trying to see for himself what Sanura claimed was there. All he saw was a smiling, flirtatious, seemingly reckless sentinel who made small talk with the Tryfynian maids whenever the opportunity arose and happily took on whatever chore he was assigned.
    Maybe the blue seductress was wrong. Worse, maybe she was lying. Maybe, for some reason which was thus far hidden, she wanted to create a division between him and his men. Divide and conquer, was that her way?
    Alix took a deep breath to calm himself when he saw Princess Edlyn stalking toward him, two humorless and