Violet Eyes by Debbie Viguié Read Free Book Online

and apparently neither could his future.
    He looked around and thought about the long year that he’d been gone. So many things he had seen and done, and yet here he was again, seemingly no wiser or bolder than when he had left.
    I should have forced the priest to marry Violet and me. If I had brought her home as my wife, there would have been nothing my parents could do. For one wild moment Richard thought about slipping away and going back to her. Slinking away like a cur in the night wasn’t exactly courageous, though.
    He was tired. It had been a long journey, and his head ached as though to remind him that he was still recovering from his injury. He sank down on his bed and wondered what new horrors awaited him in the coming weeks. Duke just whined and licked his hand.
    Violet stared at her mother in disbelief. “Why would you say such a thing?” she asked, wondering if the illness had affected Sarah’s mind.
    “Because it’s the truth, and it is long past time that you knew it.”
    Her father rose from his chair and came to stand behind Violet. He put his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. “Your mother is speaking the truth.”
    “Are you my real father?” Violet asked.
    “No, but I couldn’t love you any more if I were.”
    “Then who are my parents?”
    “We’re not entirely sure,” he said.
    Violet stared at one and then the other in disbelief. “Was I a foundling? Did you discover me in the forest like some fairy child?”
    The idea was absurd, but no more absurd to her than the thought that the people she loved so dearly were not her parents.
    William sighed deeply and then sat on the edge of the bed. He took his wife’s hand in his, and together they looked at Violet.
    “Seventeen years ago we were at war with Lore,” William said.
    “I know. The Feasting is when we celebrate our victory.”
    “For many months it wasn’t certain that we would win. The turning point of the war came during one of the fiercest storms anyone could remember,” Sarah said.
    A storm. Of course . For one wild moment she wondered if maybe it wasn’t her fortunes alone that were tied to the tempests, but those of the entire kingdom.
    “Assassins entered the castle in the middle of the night under the cover of the storm and murdered the royal family as they slept,” William said.
    Violet nodded, still not sure where they were going with the story. “And the outrage brought on by the atrocity was what spurred the people of Cambria to ultimate victory.”
    “Yes,” William said.
    “How does any of this relate to you not being my real parents?”
    “In the hours before dawn, before anyone knew what had happened at the castle, we were woken by someone pounding on the door,” Sarah said. She paused and coughed a couple of times, each one sounding more painful than the last. She finally stopped, but her eyes were watering, and there was blood on the kerchief she was holding.
    William squeezed Sarah’s hand, the pain in his eyes almost unbearable. “It’s okay, Mother. I can tell it.”
    Sarah nodded and closed her eyes for a moment as if to gather her strength.
    “A woman was standing outside in the storm,” William continued. “She had a baby with her, a little girl less than a month old, with the most beautiful violet-colored eyes.”
    Violet began to shake.
    “The woman said her name was Eve and that she was your nurse, and she begged us to take you in, to keep you safe, and to never tell anyone where you had come from. She said that men might come looking for you, to kill you. We offered you both shelter from the storm. You were so tiny, so helpless. We agreed to take care of you, but Eve refused to stay and was gone soon after. She promised to return when it was safe, if she could. We never saw her again, though.”
    “And did men come looking for me?”
    “Yes. They were soldiers of Lore. They claimed that they were looking for a kidnapped child. They tried to pretend they were