Read Online Midnight Soul by Kristen Ashley - Free Book Online Page A

made familiar with during Frey’s first interrogation
of me after a woman was poisoned at a past Bitter Gales.
    I found the door at the end of the hall
closed. Even knowing what lay beyond, I hesitated not even a second
in opening it.
    This room was lit brightly, blinding me the
instant I stepped through.
    I struggled to become accustomed to the light
as I swiftly closed the door behind me.
    Too soon, my eyes adjusted and I saw him.
Standing tall and strong amongst the casks and shelves of bottles,
the Drakkar good looks stamped on his proud features, even through
age.
    “Papa,” I whispered, fighting the shiver
seeing him caused to slither over my skin.
    It had been years.
    But I was never safe. I knew I was never
safe. Not in Lunwyn.
    Her magic didn’t reach Fleuridia. And thus I
counted on the fact it definitely wouldn’t reach the realms across
the Green Sea.
    But in Lunwyn, I knew, knew I was
never safe.
    “You and your brother have behaved very
badly, Franka,” my father declared.
    “I—” I started to explain.
    “ Silence! ” he barked, leaning toward
me, and as used to it as I was, the verbal strike of his loud word
still made my body lurch in surprise and fear.
    It was then I saw the lash coiled in his
grip.
    I didn’t take a step back. I never did.
Weakness was not tolerated. I’d learned. I’d learned if I showed
weakness, Kristian received the punishment and it would be twice as
bad.
    He could not endure it. We’d discovered that
when we were children in a way so heinous, I buried it so deep I
couldn’t even remember it, just the feelings it caused.
    But we’d learned.
    Kristian broke. He did it easily.
    Soft heart. Weak will.
    Thus I had to endure it. Every last strike.
If I broke, they’d turn to Kristian and wouldn’t stop until the
blood flowed in streams down his legs while he hung unconscious,
receiving his punishment through oblivion.
    “What have you done to our House, Franka?” my
father asked, but didn’t allow me to answer. He continued on, “The
mighty House of Drakkar could have been brought down to nothing,
and would have if this generation didn’t see the
resurgence of The Frey within The Drakkar.”
    How had he heard?
    “Please, Papa, if you’d allow me to—” I
began.
    “There’s no explanation for treason ,”
he bit out.
    Gods! How had he heard?
    “Papa, if you’ll let me share. I assisted
Frey and the others with—”
    “You,” he interrupted me, “are at least a
Drakkar. Headstrong. Whip-sharp. I can imagine you have a reason
for what you did, though I don’t bloody give a damn what it was.
Your brother, however, had no reason. None at all. Except to do as
you told him. Always minding you, like a brainless pup. It’s
revolting,” he spat his last, the expression twisting his face
sharing just how revolting he thought his son was. “I wished to
punish him. Your mother, though, she has a soft spot for that boy.
So I’m here.”
    I was uncertain my mother had anything soft
about her. In my estimation, it was less her caring for Kristian
and more the enjoyment she got from inflicting pain on me.
    “The hook is ready, Franka. Prepare and make
your way to it,” he ordered.
    I cast a glance to my right and up, seeing
the hook was indeed ready as, in times like these, it always
was.
    But I didn’t prepare and move to it.
    I looked back to my father.
    “I endure, she leaves him alone,” I
stated.
    That was the arrangement. It had always been
the arrangement. And they had never reneged.
    But there was a reason I carried a midnight
soul, for the evil contained in both my parents set their souls to
cinders years ago. It was not a wonder I’d inherited the
blackness.
    “You committed treason, daughter,” my father
reminded me.
    “I endure, she leaves him alone,” I
repeated.
    Panic threatened to paralyze me when I saw
the cruel sneer curl at his mouth, the excitement light in his
eyes, the same in the rush of pink to his cheeks.
    He enjoyed this. I’d