Read Online The Seduction (Unexpected Circumstances #2) by Shay Savage - Free Book Online Page B

me down beside her.  My father called out to the driver—I don’t recall his name, only that he had been driving for them as long as I could remember—and we started off.  Four guards on horseback rode in groups of two on either side of us.”
    “The guards were named Dalton, Kolby, Yagmur and Salik.”  Branford shifted slightly in his seat.  “I remember them all quite well.  At least one of them had been by my side since I was a toddler, watching over me and making sure I was safe wherever I went.  They watched over Ida, my parents—the entire household.  Even Kimberly and Nelle, when they came to live with us.”
    “They lived with you as children?” I asked, immediately regretting my interruption, but the words were already out.
    “Yes,” Branford said.  “Their mother was my mother’s sister.  Her husband had already passed, and she fell ill—one of the first to die of the plague that would later be linked to the destruction of Eagle—and her daughters came to live with us.  My mother swore to her sister she would raise her daughters as her own and that they would always be cared for and protected.  It was the final wish of my aunt, and my mother promised to honor it.”
    He huffed a breath out his nose and then continued.
    “Dalton and Kolby were younger than Yagmur and Salik and usually kept close to me when I was out.  They taught me the basics of sword fighting when I was quite young—archery, too, though I was never very good at it.  Salik taught me to ride, and Yagmur lectured me constantly on the duties of a young lord and what would be expected of me as I came of age.  In the years they were with us, they were like members of our family.  It was like I had four extra fathers or maybe favorite uncles.  I looked up to each and every one of them and went to bed every night, feeling secure that they were watching over us and keeping us safe.”
    “My father trusted them implicitly,” Branford said.  “I remember when Dalton was showing me just how good he was with a bow, and in his hand, my father held out an apple for Dalton to shoot.  He split it in half, and we planted the seeds after we ate it.  One of the trees still grows just outside Sterling Castle.”
    “We had been on the road no more than a couple of hours—not even half the trip—when my father glanced out the window and called up to the driver.  I don’t remember exactly what he said, only that he didn’t think we were on the right road any longer.  He thought the driver had taken a wrong turn.  I remember him calling out for Dalton and Salik—they were riding on his side of the carriage—and asking for an explanation.”
    “The carriage started to slow down, and my mother said…”
    Branford stopped, and I watched his hands ball into fists as his breathing became more labored.
    “She said,” he went on, “that something didn’t feel right.  She said she could hear more horses riding behind us.”
    He paused.  He slowly forced his fingers open and then rubbed his palms down the top of his thighs.
    “The carriage slowed and then stopped.  I could hear Yagmur telling my father he should come outside.  He said they had things to discuss.  My mother told him she didn’t like it.  She said again that something wasn’t right.  When my father went out, I heard him yelling at someone, asking whoever it was what he was doing there.  Then Yagmur called for my mother to come out as well.  I remember the look in her eyes.  It was like she knew.  I think she did know.  She stood up and grabbed me by the arm immediately, hauling me to my feet.  I started to complain—I didn’t understand what was going on—but she was frantic, speaking quietly but urgently into my ear.  She told me not to speak—not to utter a single sound, no matter what.  She made me swear to God I would be silent.  The bench seat of the carriage could be lifted, and there was a storage area inside of it.  My mother opened