Free The Lord Of Lightning (Book 3) by K.J. Hargan

opened her door, as moonlight streamed through the windows of her immense, darkened home.
    The quiet creaking of the houses and halls nestled in the giant trees of the Weald wasn't frightening to Wynnfrith, but the voices were.
    The sound of men struggling reverberated through the quiet mansion. Then Wynnfrith heard her mother's voice, low and pleading, and her father breathing fast, the painful pace of a dying man, all in hushed tones.
    Peeking through her parent's bedroom door, Wynnfrith saw several men crowded around her parent's bed. The sheets were dark with some liquid. Her father lay back, clutching his chest. Alrhett sat up in bed clutching the cloak of the nearest man, who was short and fat.
    All the men wore masks, except for Ergester who hovered over Bosruss.
    "You see?" Whispered the short, fat man nearest Alrhett. "There can be peace in the Weald. You see how the Lords of Rogar Li can come together with the Lords of the Eaststand."
    "You will tell the court," Ergester said, "that your husband died of a natural death, peacefully in his bed. You will also tell the court that you have sanctioned the marriage of your daughter to me. If you do not do these things. I will slaughter you tonight. Do you understand? Good. Now go fetch the little one. I wish to solemnize our nuptials ahead of time."
    The circle of men evilly chuckled at the last comment.
    Alrhett stumbled from her bed and to the door. She met Wynnfrith crouching in the shadows, and quickly motioned for her to be silent.
    "I will do as you say," Alrhett said from the doorway, hiding her daughter behind her.
    Alrhett griped Wynnfrith's hand, and moved silent as a cat to the nearest window. At the window was a sheer drop to a large branch.
    "We must do it," Alrhett whispered to her daughter.
    Wynnfrith needed no encouragement. She crept out the window and dropped to the branch below. She hit hard, and her fingers slipped on the thick branch of a titanic oak. The bracelet her father gave her snapped and slipped off her wrist with the impact. Wynnfrith watched the royal token fall among the dark branches of the trees of Rogar Li, disappearing into the dark with no sound of striking the ground far below, lost to the shadows. Wynnfrith scooted out of the way, knowing her mother would be next.
    As Alrhett thudded to the branch, she lost her grip and began to slide off the massive limb. Wynnfrith clutched at her mother and pulled her back to safety. The two then shimmied off the branch to the nearest walkway.
    Up above a voice hissed. "They've escape!" A dark face peered from the window they had just fled. "There they are!"
    Alrhett and Wynnfrith ran down the darkened wooden ramp and collided with a man walking in the moonlight.
    "Alrhett! Wynnfrith!" The man said. "What are you doing out here in the night... in your bed clothes?"
    "They have killed the king, Yulenth," Alrhett breathed. "And we are next."
    Wynnfrith immediately recognized the white haired man who saved her from Ergester earlier in the evening.
    "This way," Yulenth whispered and the three fled down the walkways to the forest floor. High up above, the sound of men running back and forth across the ramps of Rogar Li resounded in the still night.
    "Run to the Eastern Meadowland," Yulenth said to Alrhett. "Do not stop. Run until you find Alfhich or some other small village to hide. I will find you later."
    Wynnfrith saw a moment between Yulenth and Alrhett as they locked eyes. Her mother gazed upon the glaf in the same way she looked upon Bosruss.
    As they fled to the west, Wynnfrith looked back to see the glaf waving from the shadows to the gang of men that charged down the ramp.
    "This way!" Yulenth called to the men. "They went this way!" Yulenth led the men to the north, into the darkened maze of the Weald.
    The rest of the night was running, always running, and crying, tears without end. They stayed off the North Bairn Road that ran near the banks of the Bairn River, staying in the safe cover of the