One Battle Lord’s Fate Read Online Free

in the morning air. For a long moment, their blades locked at the guards until Yulen voluntarily backed off.
    “Don’t do me any favors,” Renken told him. Yulen figured it stung the man's pride that he hadn’t been given the chance to shove the Battle Lord away. He had been looking for a chance, any chance, to show the blue-haired woman standing nearby how expert he was with a weapon. Atty had taken him into battle but she had been too busy fighting the Blood Leader to notice his skill.
    “Didn’t plan to.” Yulen smiled. He lunged at the man, then suddenly dropped and pivoted in an attempt to cut him off at the knees. Renken barely had time leap out of the way, but as he landed, he thought he saw his chance, and his arm came down in a flat-sided hit. An instant away from his shoulder, Yulen slipped his weapon under the ex-mercenary's, and it was Yulen’s sword that smacked against pale skin.
    “Hold!”
    Both men stepped away from each other, retiring to opposite sides of the circle to catch their breaths and grab a drink of water from the skins hanging from one of the thin posts ringing the field. By now, quite a large crowd had gathered to watch the confrontation.

    * * *
     
    Atty listened quietly to those around her, hearing their comments and their exclamations upon seeing the Battle Lord’s scars. Sometimes evidence spoke more loudly than words ever could. Yulen had risked his life to protect them. It was only right they saw the results of his sacrifice.
    “Isn’t it turning out to be a beautiful day?” a voice brightly asked behind her.
    Atty turned around to see Tory with a cheerful expression on her face. “Good morning, Tory. Sleep well last night?”
    The Mutah woman gave her a motherly look. “You mean, other than when poor little Mattox was having a bad time of it, didn’t you little man?” She took the baby from Atty’s arms and cuddled the sleeping infant.
    “He didn’t keep you up, did he?”
    “No, no,” Tory answered, patting the tiny bottom. “It wasn’t anything serious, was it? I only heard him once or twice, but it wasn’t enough to keep Fortune and me up.”
    Sighing, Atty shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t stop crying, no matter what we did.” She hoped the woman wouldn't notice the darkening under her eyes, which mutely told of other nights when the baby had given her no rest. “He’s not coming down sick, is he?”
    “Nah. Babies get cranky. You have to remember, Atty, there was no night and day when he was inside you. He’s going to have to learn to sleep at night and be awake during the day. Right now his cycles are all screwed up. Plus he doesn’t have your warmth around him any longer. He doesn’t hear your heart beating beside him. It’s a scary place he lives in now, all noisy and colder.” She placed a tender kiss on the tiny head as she continued to hold the infant against her. “How about you, Atty? You look like you’re a bit worn out from all this. Are you doing okay?”
    “Yeah.” Atty gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine.”
    She should have accepted the fact that Tory’s sharp eyes missed nothing. Plus the fact that the woman's female intuition was in full force. Tory reached out to snag the young woman’s sleeve, and tugged on it. “Come here a minute.” She pulled Atty farther away from the combatant circle, over to where their conversation couldn’t be overheard. Once she was certain they were out of eavesdrop distance, Tory gave Atty a hard stare. “Fortune and I need to speak to you and Yulen as soon as you have a spare moment.”
    Atty’s eyes cut to where her husband was once again in the circle with Renken. Tory continued to look into her face, looking for telltale signs of the truth. She wondered if the older woman would also spot the emptiness there. And longing. Definitely a longing, almost painful in its wistfulness, to the point where she sometimes wanted to huddle into a ball.
    “Atty?”
    She turned to