Free The Kinshield Legacy by K.C. May Page B

her feet with a gaping expression. “You did this--?” She straightened and looked boldly into Brodas’s eyes. “I won’t serve you.”
    “Oh, but you’re mistaken. Here,” he said, showing her a ring on his finger. “You see, this gem is a piece of the same stone as the one in your amulet. They were magically bound together and now spelled as one.”
    Lilalian blanched.
    “That’s right,” he said. The expression on her face made it plain she had some understanding of how gems worked, but he couldn’t resist hammering the point home. “Any spell I cast through this ring will affect you for better or for worse, no matter where you are.”
    “No! I won’t let you poison the Sisterhood,” Lilalian shouted. Her eyes darted around as though trying to decide what to do. Then she reached for the amulet at her breast. She was going to commit suicide.
    Warrick grabbed her wrists and wrestled them behind her back.
    “Listen to me, Lilalian,” Brodas said. “Take that amulet off and you’ll die. Of that you have no doubt. Your death may delay our partnership with the Viragon Sisterhood, but it’s only a matter of time before I find someone who sees things my way. I’ll go through them one after another until I do.”
    Lilalian threw her head back to slam into Warrick’s lip. She stomped his foot and twisted in his grasp, freeing herself. Suddenly, she had her sword in her hand.
    “Warrick!” Brodas shouted, but Warrick was unarmed. She lunged at Brodas. He barely had enough warning to put up a protection spell. The point of her sword stopped an inch shy of his chest. White haze raced down the length of her blade and washed over her hand and arm, up to her chest and engulfed her body. She fell, limp, to the floor, her weapon clattering beside her. Warrick wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand, then bent and picked up the sword.
    Brodas squatted and cocked his head to look into her eyes. He knew she could hear and see him, and in a few hours, she would be able to stand up. “I would have preferred your cooperation. Doing it this way is not without its price. The strong-willed tend to go ranting after a few weeks. By then, I should have what I need, and a new guild mistress will take your place just as you have taken Aminda’s today.” He brought the ring up to his chin and closed his eyes. He pulled from deep within his center enough strength and will to turn her. As pressure around his chest and at the base of his throat began to build, he shoved the mounting power toward the stone as his lips formed the words, Sola Allien.
    Lilalian’s eyes softened into round puppy’s eyes. Brodas put a hand on her arm and healed her, removing the spell of paralysis. Little by little, she moved her hands, feet, arms and legs. “You should be starting to regain feeling now,” Brodas said, rubbing his temples. The pressure was building like the rumblings after an earthquake.
    “I don’t know what came over me,” Lilalian said as she started to rise. “Forgive me, my lord.”
    Warrick shot an appreciative glance at Brodas. He extended a hand to help her up, and she grasped it and stood. She wobbled on unsteady legs and he caught her with an arm around her waist. “Whoa there.”
    She steadied herself against him and smiled. “Could you help me put Aminda on her horse?”
    Warrick nodded with a somber expression. “Of course. But we’ll want to clean her up first.”
    Brodas rubbed his pounding temples.
    “Are you ill, Seer Ravenkind?” Lilalian asked.
    The volume of her voice exploded in his head and he grimaced. “I’ll be fine,” he said quietly. “Just a bit overwhelmed by the tragedy that has befallen us this evening.” The pain began to diminish as his healing powers did their work.
    She eyed the guild mistress’s corpse. “What will I tell the other women?” she asked.
    “Why, the truth, of course,” Brodas answered. He smiled gently, the pain nearly gone.
    She looked at him with