Free The Girl With Red Hair (The Last War Saga Book 1) by Michael J Sanford

that which was.
    “Thank you,” she said. “I promise to repay you for your kindness. Somehow.” She felt her lips curl into a smile, but twisted them into a grimace.
    They both relaxed and made identical faces. Like she’d slapped them. “Nonsense,” Laira said. “We’re just happy to help. Children are old enough to not need so much anymore. It’s nice to be needed again.”
    Maira just nodded, truly savoring the moment now. Then she yawned. It was forced, but she thought it seemed genuine. It was hard to remember what it felt like to feel tired. She couldn’t remember what it was like to sleep. Or to dream… that was a dream in and of itself.
    Malic stood at once. “Oh, you must be beat. I’ll have a bed made up for you in just a bit.”
    “No, I can sleep here,” Maira said, indicating the worn rug that lay near a barren fireplace. “It’s no problem.”
    “Nonsense,” he said. “You’ll sleep in Alexander’s room.”
     
    Night fell as it always did, and with it His voice returned, carried along the shadows, into Maira’s mind. With the world cloaked in darkness there was no place to hide from His reach. Not that she would have. Fear was a stranger that she had slaughtered long ago. She welcomed His presence. She had been waiting for it.
    Wife, do not disobey me. The one that is Alexander is not to be trifled with. He has been claimed by one of the Six. The one that has already fallen. We must know his purpose.
    She smiled. The night gave her strength, and though she would not be able to avoid His voice, He had no way to directly touch her. Not here. Not now. She was in control. In the end, He would understand. She did it for Him. She laughed quietly to herself as she sat in the window, legs dangling from the second-floor opening, her eyes cast to the moons. It wasn’t true. She did this for herself. Because she desired it. And now that she had the means, why deny the pleasure? It was a constant thought that coursed through her mind, an argument with her own divided conscience, but the result was never in doubt. Even if she could remember her previous life, it wouldn’t matter.
    “I will take from him as I did the others,” she whispered to the night, wishing He could hear it. “And when they see all that they have lost, I will kill them, to ensure the end.”
    She closed her eyes, focusing on the cold night breeze, kicking her feet like an anxious child. Her bodily senses were all but nonexistent, but her mind was sharp, honed in the Shadows, and aware of all around her. She spun and rolled back into the room, rising to her feet with uncanny grace. Her soul ached. It was time.
    The hallway was empty and dark, save for a single oil lamp hanging from a hook in the middle of the space, turned low. Shadows danced as Maira stole quietly along the wall, making no more noise than the night itself. She was a shade, an apparition of doom.
    Something clattered across the wooden floor and froze Maira in her steps. She looked down to see a small carving of a horse. She cursed the child that had left it in her path and held her breath, eyes darting to each of the five rooms along the hallway.
    The one nearest her opened with a faint creak and revealed a slight girl of ten. She held a small blanket in one hand and rubbed her eyes with the other.
    “Miss Maira?” the girl asked sleepily, squinting in the dim light.
    Maira had the girl by the throat just as the words left her. In another moment she was pressed against the wall, Maira’s lips a hair from the girl’s ear. She could sense the throbbing of her heart, but the girl said nothing, stilled with fright.
    “You should have stayed in bed,” she whispered into the girl’s ear. Her jeweled dagger slid into her hand and glinted in the lamp glow as she brought it level with the girl’s eye. The red of the stone pulsed in sync with Maira’s heart.
    The girl shook, but remained still, eyes wide and unmoving, transfixed on the sharp point. Maira’s