Read Online Treason Keep by Jennifer Fallon - Free Book Online

this late at night.”
    “It can’t be avoided, I fear. I doubt the commandant wants to wait until morning.”
    “Very well,” Mahina agreed. She stood up and pointed toward the narrow staircase that led to the upper level. “If you will follow me, Commandant.”
    Damin and Tarja stood back to let them pass, watching the old woman and the Defender until they vanished into the gloom. Once he was certain they were out of earshot, Tarja turned to Jenga with concern.
    “This could be awkward,” Tarja said, leaning on the long table for support. The movement heartened Damin. Tarja was not nearly as sober as he pretended.
    “Awkward? This is bloody impossible! I have never been happy with this subterfuge! Something like this was bound to happen, sooner or later.”
    “Do you have a better alternative?”
    “But to send orders to the Citadel? Under Joyhinia’s seal? Orders that anybody in their right mind would know didn’t come from her?”
    Damin found himself stepping between the two men, and between an argument that had been unresolved for months. “With all due respect, my Lord, the orders have come from Joyhinia. She has signed and sealed everyone of them.”
    “She has the mind of a child,” Jenga retorted. “You could place an order for her own hanging in front of her and she’d sign it with a giggle. I’m not as adept as you and Tarja at twisting the truth to placate my honour, Lord Wolfblade. What we have done is tantamount to treason.”
    “Refusing to slaughter three hundred innocent men was treason, Jenga,” Tarja pointed out. “Everything flowing from that action is merely consequences. The treason is done and past. Our duty now is to protect Medalon.”
    “And the end justifies the means?” Jenga asked bitterly. “I wish I had your ability to see the world so…conveniently.”
    “I wish I had your ability to argue the same point endlessly,” Damin added impatiently. “You Medalonians have a bad habit of not knowing when it’s time to let a matter rest. What I want to know is who this Garet Warner is, and why you’re all so afraid of him?”
    Both Tarja and Jenga looked at him in surprise.
    “Afraid of him?” Jenga asked.
    “Afraid is not the right word, but it pays to be wary of him,” Tarja said. “Garet Warner is the head of Defender Intelligence. And a loyal officer.”
    “Loyal to whom, exactly?”
    “We’ll find that out soon enough,” Jenga predicted grimly.

CHAPTER 7
    Consciousness was a long time coming to R’shiel, but it pulled at her relentlessly, forcing her to acknowledge her existence. She did not want to awaken. She was perfectly content where she was, lost in a warm nothingness where no pain, no misery, no fear could intrude. The silence was complete, the darkness total. Were it not for the annoying, insistent voice calling her name, she could happily have stayed here forever. She had no sense of time in this place, no way to judge how long she had been here. All she knew was that she had no great desire to leave.
    Yet the voice called to her and she was unable to resist it.
    “Welcome back.”
    She stared at the man who spoke for a long time before she remembered who he was. His faded blue eyes were full of concern. And something else. Suspicion, perhaps?
    “Brak.”
    “No, don’t try to sit up. You’ve been unconscious for quite a while. It’ll take a little time to get your strength back.”
    R’shiel let her head flop back onto the pillow, and contented herself with simply moving her head to study her surroundings. The room was large and lit by streaming sunlight; the air was heavy with the scent of wildflowers.
    “Where am I?”
    “Sanctuary.”
    She turned her head to look at him. “How did I get here? I don’t remember anything. We were in Testra, I think…”
    “Don’t worry, it’ll come back to you, and sooner than you want. You’ve been very sick, R’shiel. Cheltaran himself had to heal you.”
    “Who’s Cheltaran?”
    “The God of