Betrayals Read Online Free Page A

possible to first help myself— and whatever I did would have to be done alone.
    Depression tried to fill me again, but the strength flowing into me from the power left no room for debilitating emotions. It was impossible to deny that I would have to act alone, but that would hardly be the first time. It might turn out to be the hardest time, but that would hold true only if I failed to make a decent plan. That, then, was my first objective: to make a plan rather than simply to act and run. Running blindly is often worse than not running at all.
    So I returned to the tray with the intention of refilling my teacup, and ended up sitting down to the meal. I’d suddenly noticed that I was quite hungry after all, and it was necessary to remember that I’d been commanded to eat. Giving those people the least hint that I wasn’t quite as helpless as they imagined would be stupid, and my Blendingmates and I had already committed enough stupidities.
    By the time I finished the food—which I had to rewarm only a little—more of the fog was gone from my mind and I had a tentative plan. It had come to me that the others and I needed to know what had been done to us, to make certain it was never done a second time. I was sure Lanir knew the details, and it should be possible to get him to brag about his knowledge. He might even know what had been done with the others, and if so, then I would know. I promised myself that, in the grimmest tone I could ever remember using.
    I sat back in the chair with my teacup, trying not to dwell on the most disturbing part of my plan—which revolved around the fact that I couldn’t afford to leave the house until after that dinner party. I would have been happiest if I could have walked out immediately, but that Lord Lanir wasn’t here to be questioned, and I really didn’t want anyone sending guardsmen after me right away. They’d probably be sent eventually, but the longer I had to find a place to go, the better off I would be.
    So I sipped tea and wondered what had been planned for my father as a reception. Seeing him again was another thing I would have been happy to miss, especially if he brought Odrin Hallasser with him. It was difficult to believe that anyone would actually try to challenge a noble’s claim to anything, so my father had to be more than desperate. I might have pitied someone else in the same situation, but my father had brought his problems on himself. He’d deliberately made his bed without considering anyone else, and now he could lie in it without interference.
    But I still would have been happier if I didn’t have to see him pull the covers up….
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Rion sat in the chair the servant had helped him to, feeling more lightheaded than be could ever remember being. It almost felt as though he floated in midair, and his thoughts were much too vague. But that didn’t mean he had no idea about where he was or what was happening to him. That he knew all too well, and if not for whatever drug had been given him, he would have been drowning in despair.
    “Ah, good morning, my darling,” Mother’s voice came, and then she appeared to take the chair opposite his. “Did you sleep well? Did you enjoy your breakfast? … I know you’re able to reply, Clarion, and I would advise you to do so at once. I’m sure you’ve learned better than to make Mother angry.”
    “In point of fact, I’ve learned a good deal more than that,” Rion responded, forced to speak slowly and with difficulty. “The most important lesson is that your anger is meaningless, so you may do as you please in that regard. I assure you that it will all be the same to me.”
    “That, of course, will be the first fallacy you unlearn,” she countered, no longer as pleased as she’d been. “You will quickly remember how uncomfortable my anger can make you, and also, if necessary, that it can become painful. I will have my darling boy back, just as he was before he left to be