Read Online Radiance (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #3) by Eve Paludan - Free Book Online

about it, you don’t give it power or credence.”
    “ Maybe I want to give it power and credence. Maybe I want to talk to the ghost or the spirit of Lucas and ask his advice.”
    She smiled at me. “If you could, what would you do with that advice?”
    “Argue with him.”
    She nodded. “I would expect no less of you.”
    “All right, I’ll save the attempted ghost communications for another day.”
    Ambra and I sat across from each other. I was behind the massive desk and looked at her, feeling the usual jolt of admiration shoot through me. Her hair was long, blonde and shiny and her Scandinavian face was tinged with pink from vigorous exercise and from the fresh, cold air of an athlete’s lifestyle. Her figure was knock-out pretty.
    “Did you have a nice sunset ski?”
    “ I did. You should get up earlier and come with me. Let’s make a regular thing of it.”
    “ It was fun.”
    “ You have much to learn,” she added. “I will make a Swiss skier out of you yet.”
    “ I should go with you every day, now that you’ve forbidden Corbin from accompanying you.”
    “ Do you blame me?” she snapped. “He was going to turn me into a werewolf!”
    “ I don’t blame you. He crossed the line.” I spoke calmly. Obviously, she had not forgiven him one bit and even just bringing up his name was a mistake.
    “ Yes, he did cross the line. Ach! Is that what this meeting is about?”
    “ No, but I do worry about you skiing by yourself with the wolf pack out and about.”
    “ Then ski with me. They won’t pursue two of us, unless they are starving. It is a fact that most wolves prefer pursuit of a single prey. Our numbers would provide us with greater personal safety.”
    “ Good to know. I promise, I’ll join you again soon. Everything got skewed after we went skiing that first time, you know?”
    She frowned.
    There was a problem with our current conversation and I wanted to change the tone of it. Then I realized what it was. I felt weird with that big desk between us, separating us like I was some kind of king or arrogant boss. I didn’t like it. We were equals. I rolled back my chair.
    “ Let’s move to the couch by the fire. I want to talk to you about something important. I need to get your ideas without Lucas’s big desk between us.”
    She nodded and followed me over. We sank into the leather cushions and she grabbed an afghan off the back of it and tossed it to me. “You look cold, surfer boy. Have a blanket.”
    “It’s winter in the Alps. I’m from California. Don’t razz me for shivering.”
    She put her hand on my cheek for a second. “Your broken nose is healing up.”
    I wrapped the afghan around my shoulders and settled in. “Slowly, but surely. Soon, my face won’t even be green and yellow anymore.”
    She got up and put another log on the fire, poked it for a minute, and then sat down again on the opposite side of the couch. “There you go. You’ll be warm in no time. We have plenty of wood and the more we use, the more jobs we create for the poor people who chop it on the sly from the castle grounds and have the nerve to sell it back to us at the front gate out of the trunks of their cars.”
    I laughed. “Thanks. I needed that.” My eyes flicked to the fire as the flames caught the new log and crackled. I still didn’t like open fire because it reminded me of Megan’s burning.
    “ Rand, what’s up?”
    I turned my gaze back to her. “A lot.”
    “I think I know what this specific talk is about.”
    “ You do?”
    “ Oui. We’re in deep trouble,” she said. “I’m not even talking about how much my heart aches that we have lost two more of us, that our beloved Lucas and Daphne are dead. The big picture, beyond my broken heart of losing two friends, is that we have lost so much ground in our mission that we don’t have enough people to keep this going for a safe vampire hunt.”
    “ I agree, but I have an idea. Let’s go to Romania.”
    “ Again?” Ambra tilted