Read Online Lord of Shadows by Alix Rickloff - Free Book Online Page A

think of the wisdom of her actions, she grabbed him by the hand, leading him into the dark office. Lit the nearest taper, the wick sputtering to life with a few whispered words.
    Nothing seemed out of place in the cluttered chamber. No obvious signs of disruption or theft. They stood together in the middle of the room, Daigh rigid with tension beside her.
    Hopelessness. Misery. Desolation. Confusion.
    His feelings hammered Sabrina in a relentless mental assault, a blinding headache shooting down her spine all the way to her toes. She fought to clear a space in her mind amid the cacophony of foreign emotion. Room enough to think of something beyond the slosh of her brain and the spots dancing before her eyes.
    “Are you all right?” His black gaze swung to her, the meager light flickering over his stubbled chin, aquiline nose, broad warrior’s brow.
    Her reply caught in her throat. She sought to tear herself free from his riveting stare, but found herself trapped. Unable to move. Barely able to breathe. For a fraction of a second, she felt a sense of falling. Wind rushing past her ears. Darkness closing in on her, and Daigh’s face filling her vision, though not Daigh’s face. He was different. But how? She’d no time to decide before he lurched away from her, breaking the dangerous connection between them.
    “Sabrina?” he asked. “What’s wrong? Answer me.”
    She recovered, suddenly as tired as if she’d been working in the infirmary for a week on no sleep. Eyes scratchy and stinging, muscles aching, the headache of before dulled to a continuous pounding throb at her temples. She still gripped her dinner tray, the everyday smells of ham and potatoes oddly comforting against the backdrop of darkness and mystery and magic that surrounded this man like an aura. “I don’t know. For a moment, I felt as if I might faint. And you were . . . but”—he frowned, his eyes like chips of obsidian in a grim face—“. . . never mind. I’m tired and I haven’t eaten. That must be it.”
    Without a word, he took the tray from her. Offered his elbow for support. “Come. It’s no use. I remember nothing.”
    She nodded, allowing him to guide her limp body. Leaning against him was like leaning against a tree. Solid. Unwavering. Though no tree she’d encountered had ever sent a tingly pleasantness buzzing up through her center. Or a warm blush touching her cheeks.
    At the door, he paused, leaving her to reenter the office.Bent to blow out the candle. For a long moment, he stood in the dark, staring round him, shoulders braced.
    “Daigh? We should go. You don’t belong here.”
    “You’re right, Sabrina,” he muttered. “I don’t belong here. That’s the only thing I
do
know for certain.”
    Pinching out the tiny flame of her candle, Sabrina closed her diary, having answered none of the questions scurrying through her brain like mice in a cluttered attic. Instead, putting her thoughts to paper only added to the bewildering array of puzzles. Daigh at the heart of every one like the center of some great black storm cloud. Who was he? What event in his past had caused the brutal scarring of his body? Why did he insist he knew her? Why was she suddenly experiencing flashes of another, armored Daigh? What was he doing in Ard-siúr’s office? Had he told her the truth about the memory? What was he hiding? And why did she have the eerie premonition that events closed in around them? Dragging her into his orbit whether she willed it or not?
    “Jane?” Sabrina whispered. “Are you awake?”
    A grumpy mumble floated up out of the dark. “I am now.”
    “May I ask you a question?”
    “You’ve already asked two. Three’s my limit for the middle of the night.”
    “Have you noticed anything unusual about Daigh MacLir?”
    “Everything about the man is unusual. Can I go back to sleep now?”
    “No. Listen. Ever since he arrived, I feel as if he holds some importance to me. And I to him.”
    Jane heaved a sigh. The