Read Online The Sword and the Sylph (Elemental Series) by Elizabeth Rose - Free Book Online

brashly you spoke to my stepmother,” said Portia. “Nor the way she left so quickly by your offer to look into her future.”
    “Twasn’t the future that worried her, my dear, but rather her past that she didn’t want me to discover.”
    “What do you mean?” she asked curiously.
    “I am not sure, but I can tell that the woman holds a dark secret, having to do with the past. I knew once I mentioned it, she’d leave quickly.”
    “Do you think you can heal my father?” She walked forward to survey the herbs and ointments the healer was laying atop the bed.
    “Well, let me see the depth of his wound , and I would know more.” Juturna pulled back the coverlet and looked at the man’s bare chest. She ran her hand over it, puzzlement showing in her eyes. “I thought the stablemaster said he took a flaming arrow to the chest.”
    “He did.”
    She raised her eyebrows and looked at her. “There is no mark of an arrow, nor any injury at all. I think my services are not needed after all, my lady.”
    “That is not true. I do need you.”
    “To do what? It seems you’ve already managed to heal him. The last time I’ve seen something like this was when you placed your healing kiss on Sir Braden’s wound within the stone circle.”
    There was that story again. An incident she could not remember.
    “Juturna, it is true I healed my father with a kiss, but he has not opened his eyes and I don’t know what to do. And as for Sir Braden, as I’ve already told him, I did naught to heal his wound.”
    “Oh, so you remember him, do you?” The old woman spoke to her yet continued to look for wounds upon her father.
    “I remember no incident of healing him with a kiss, but I do know him as he was here recently, spying on my father’s castle at the orders of Lord Solomon from Banesmoor.”
    “Spying?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder, “that doesn’t sound like Sir Braden at all. And if you don’t remember healing him, ’tis only because at the time you were in your etheric form.”
    She closed up her ointments and instead pulled fresh herbs from a pouch at her side.
    “He is betrothed to Lord Solomon’s daughter, the Lady Christabel,” Portia told her. “And aye, I assure you he is a traitor.”
    “That surprises me , my lady, as Sir Braden has been smitten with you since that day you healed him in the stone circle. I am sure he would do naught to harm you. And I cannot believe he is going to marry someone else when he had his heart set on marrying you.”
    “What?” Her heart raced at this announcement. “Why would you say such a thing, when you’ve just met me?”
    “I don’t need my crystal to see that his betrothal to Lady Christabel has upset you, my dear.”
    “I am not upset.” She was very upset but was trying not to show it.
    “And I also have a feeling that while you call him the traitor and the spy, you have secrets regarding the same issue of your own.”
    Juturna broke up fresh herbs and using a pestle from her pouch, ground them into an earthenware cup. She then poured water from the basin into it and placed it in the hearth to warm.
    “I have only followed the orders of the countess,” she told her. “And regarding Sir Braden - he isn’t all that bad, I suppose.”
    “He is a man who woul d lay down his life for those he loves without hesitating,” Juturna told her. “He is also one of the most loyal, chivalrous, kind, courageous men I have ever met.”
    “Why does it sound to me as if you want me to fancy him?” she asked.
    “Why does it sound to me as if you are trying to deny the fact you do fancy him already, mayhap even more than his attraction to you?”
    “He may have been smitten with me at first,” relayed Portia, “but I assure you he does not care for me anymore.”
    “And would you like to change that, my dear?”
    “Well . . . I don’t know. Perhaps, but I am not sure.”
    “It sounds to me as if you two need to talk.”
    “That is impossible.