Read Online Steel Maiden by Kim Richardson - Free Book Online

women once and for all!”
    A murmur of agreement ran around the
chamber, and my heart began to race, faster than before.
    “The creature should die.”
An old priest with a thin wrinkled face pointed his walking stick
at me. “She will only poison our minds with her lies. We will go
mad if we let her live. I have seen it. I have seen the wicked ways
of the magic bearers. Kill the creature. Kill her!”
    “Yes, kill
her!”
    “Kill her!”
    “Kill the
beast!”
    My mind raced, and I focused on the high
priest. I would have welcomed a quick execution over the life of a
courtesan, but I could see that Brother Edgar wanted to make me
suffer. A chill settled deep into my bones.
    “Perhaps she is destined
to die.” T he high priest turned to me, his lips pulled back
into a sly smile.
    I could barely breathe.
    “But,” he said slowly. I could sense the
guards and the priests looming behind me. “Perhaps the Creator has
other plans for her.”
    There was something so evil in the look in
his eyes that I began to shake.
    “What’s your name?” the high priest asked
after a moment.
    I could hardly hear him over the roar in my
ears. I hesitated and then raised my chin proudly, “Elena. Elena
Milegard from the Pit.”
    One of the guards smashed me in the back
with some kind of club, and I stumbled forward…
    “Your Grace ,” Baul instructed me.
“Show some respect, witch.”
    “Elena Milegard, Your Grace.”
    I was proud to use my mother’s maiden name.
Brother Edgar and I stared at each other with equal hatred.
    “Well now, Elena Milegard, from the Pit,”
the high priest said. “I do not want you as a concubine. But there
is something I want you to do for me—”
    “She needs to die!” bellowed the hateful
Brother Edgar.
    “My lord,” he added quickly.
    The high priest scowled at him.
    “I will do it. Let me take her down to the
cells and beat the demon out of her. It would be my pleasure. This
is, after all, the result of my own folly. It will give me great
pleasure to rectify my mistake.”
    His black, soulless eyes fell on me again
and even though I hated this man, I watched him without feeling. He
would not break me. I didn’t fear him, and I wouldn’t go down
without a fight.
    “Under different circumstances I would have
to agree with you, Brother Edgar,” said the high priest. He
strolled around the chamber, but then his eyes fixed on me
again.
    “But as it turns out—this is different.”
    Brother Edgar looked shocked. “Your
Eminence?”
    The high priest turned around and faced
me.
    “I don’t believe in luck or chances. I
believe that she was brought to us by the Creator, and that he has
a plan for her.”
    A murmur of disagreement ran around the
chamber, but no one seemed to want to voice his discontent.
    I was just as confused as the other priests.
The high priest’s sly smile was not reassuring, and I shifted
uncomfortably. What could be worse than being a concubine? My mind
was in overdrive. I braced myself for what was to come.
    The high priest looked at me through keen
eyes. “Elena, have you ever heard of the Heart of Arcania?”
    I fidgeted under his icy stare.
    “The stone?” I shrugged. “It’s a myth, a
fairy tale. I’ve read about it in a children’s book.”
    The high priest seemed pleased with my
answer.
    “You can read? How marvelous. I can assure
you that the precious stone is no myth. The Heart of Arcania
exists. The kings and queens of old desired it, too, but no one has
been able to recover it.”
    He raised his voice. “As you are well aware,
my brothers, the Great Race will start in two weeks.”
    I stole a look at the guards. Both Baul and
Garth looked as perplexed as I was. I wasn’t the only one left in
the dark. Brother Edgar glared at me, and I met his eyes with
vengeful fierceness and kept glaring at him until he looked
away.
    “Every hundred years,” began the high
priest, “representatives from the kingdoms
of Arcania participate in a Great Race on