Read Online Angel's Assassin by Laurel O'Donnell - Free Book Online

room and eased her to her feet.
    Aurora immediately rushed to the chamber pot.
Violent spasms wracked her body as she heaved into the pot. When
she finished, she slid down to her knees, weak and spent. Tears
rolled over her cheeks. She clutched her stomach as fiery pain
spiked up from her midsection and radiated out into her entire
body. She curled into a tight ball on the floor.
    Damien picked her up, carefully laying her
upon her bed. He brushed her hair back away from her brow.
    “I’m not like my mother,” she wept. “Why
would Marie do this? What have I done?”
    Lord Gabriel skidded to a halt outside the
open door and then rushed into the room. His face was colorless,
his eyes filled with fear. He froze in his tracks when he saw his
daughter lying crumpled in a ball on the bed. He looked at Damien,
terror filling his face. “The dog is dead,” he said.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    L ord Gabriel
dropped to his knees beside his daughter’s bed. Aurora groaned,
holding her stomach. Gabriel desperately wrapped his arms around
her, cradling her in a tight embrace. He looked at the guards
standing in the doorway and screamed, “Get the herbalist
now!”
    The guards disappeared from the doorway.
    Damien stepped back from the bed. There was
nothing he could do for Aurora now. She would have to fight this
off herself. Still, he felt the weight of guilt settle heavy on his
shoulders. He should have been quicker. He should have stopped her
from drinking it. He brushed the thoughts aside. It would do no
good to place this blame on his shoulders. He was here for a
different reason. If he had killed her already, he would not be
feeling this guilt. This was sheer madness! She was already
supposed to be dead by his own hand, yet here he stood like an
anguished family member desperate for her recovery.
    “Aurora, look at me,” Gabriel commanded. She
opened large, bright eyes filled with pain. He held her tight
against his chest, whispering into her hair, “You’ll be fine.”
Gabriel lifted desperate eyes to Damien. “She will not die,” he
vowed.
    Aurora’s soft sobs and groans of repressed
pain made Damien clench his teeth. Another assassin? It did not
surprise him. Roke was playing him. This was a game to his master.
Yes, if he completed the mission, he could have his freedom. But
Roke was not going to make it easy. If someone else killed her, he
would never get his freedom from Roke. Damien knew he could never
allow that to happen. He knew he should have realized what Roke was
up to with the first assassin in the marketplace. Roke had no
intention of letting Damien succeed in getting his freedom; he had
no intention of letting Damien go. Slowly, Damien’s fists curled
tight. All Roke wanted to do was mock him and humiliate him.
    As Damien watched, Aurora’s hand fell limply
over the side of the bed. Damien stared at her fingers. They were
so slender, so small and fragile. His jaw clenched tight. His gaze
moved back to her face. Even wracked with pain, she was beautiful.
And so good of heart. She had believed the servant girl was
innocent. Damien froze.
    The servant girl Marie.
    He knew he had seen someone else in the
hallway with her earlier. That shadowy shape. He had to find Marie.
He had to discover who the other assassin was and eliminate him. He
couldn’t allow anyone to threaten Aurora’s life. No other assassin
would be allowed to jeopardize his freedom. He moved to the door,
pausing for a long moment to look back at Aurora. Right now, he
could do nothing for her. The herbalist was her only hope.
    Damien slipped out of the room.
     
***
     
    Damien merged with the shadows as he moved
through the castle corridors, making his way toward the kitchens.
The meal was at an end and the servants were cleaning up the Great
Hall. Damien scanned the large area, but Marie was not in the room.
He walked to the door near the rear wall and stood in the doorway
of the kitchen for a moment, his gaze moving through the dark