Deadly Intentions (Blood Feud - Volume 2) Read Online Free Page A

a
mock accusing look.
    “Maggie here has been seeing to your
healing.” She said finally.
    At the mention of her name, Maggie’s cheeks
flushed as she untied Tristan’s left wrist. Her face was inches
from his as he quietly said. “Thank you.”
    She mumbled her reply and quickly shuffled
over to the fireplace and stoked the fire, adding logs to it from
the cutout in the wall beside it. Tristan watched her closely,
remembering moments of consciousness when he could hear her singing
quietly to him as she changed his dressings or washed his sweating
forehead and chest. Kevin cleared his throat theatrically,
wrenching Tristan’s attention back to his brother.
    Kevin smiled as he said; “You got an
infection, it must have been a filthy arrow at any rate. Took the
healers hours to clean the wound and dress it properly.” He
explained calmly, though Tristan could tell his brother had been
greatly disturbed. “Good thing you’re in shape. The damn thing
could have killed you.” He observed.
    Tristan sat up in the bed. His side itched
like it was on fire, just below his rib cage, though he fought not
to scratch it. Alison came around the bed and Tristan rolled his
eyes, assuming she would mother over his wound. Instead, she wound
up and hit him in the shoulder.
    “It’s time to get your armor resized!” She
accused with a laugh.
    The Prince looked down to see the fresh
dressing in his side; it looked as though it had just slipped into
the gap where his armor was tied. Over the last year he’d come into
his last growth as he broadened out and his chest expanded. This
created gaps in his cherished armor, and he simply did not have the
time to have attended to. He had begun packing the gaps with thick
leather, though clearly that wasn’t enough.
    His brother and sister-in-law chucked as he
sighed dramatically at his own error. They bade him goodnight as
Maggie walked over to him and began checking his dressings again.
Her touch was electric and it made him draw in his breath
sharply.
    “Did I hurt you?” She asked, her face losing
color.
    “No.” Tristan answered simply, grasping her
arm gently and pulling her towards him and kissed her.
     

Chapter 2
     
    Tristan Vallious stood in the main hall,
splendid in his black dragon scale armor trimmed in red. Fresh
dragon scales, donated by his grandfather, had been stained and
added to fill in the gaps. His scimitar and dagger hung at his hip,
partially hidden by the long black cloak he wore. A small curve in
the black cloth folds on his back were the only hint at his shield
strapped to his back.
    Kevin and Alison Vallious ran their court
with practiced ease and efficiency. Each citizen stepped forward to
state his or her case and each was dealt with politely. Kevin’s
court was much more organized than their fathers, though they only
had a duchy to administer and The King had an entire country.
Still, Tristan mused, he could see his brother bringing his
attention to efficiency and loathing of politics to the throne when
he assumed it in a few years.
    Maggie came into the hall through the back
door that led to the bedchambers and main dining hall. In her arms
she carried Nathan, Kevin and Alison’s son. Already he showed the
baring of his mother, and the size of his father as Maggie was
forced to rebalance the baby Prince on her hip to compensate for
his size.
    Tristan smiled at her, which she warmly
returned as she made a show of readjusting the way she carried the
lad. Upon viewing his parents he had begun to squirm and try to
break free so that he could waddle over to them as he enjoyed
doing. Tristan smiled as he walked over to her, his cape flapping
behind him, and offered to liberate her from his nephews growing
insistence.
    “Having trouble milady?” He asked playfully
as he rescued her from the baby’s squirming. He lifted Nathan into
his arms; the little Prince regarded him skeptically before giving
in and relaxing with a huff of indignation.
    “Just a