Queen's Heart: An Arthurian Paranormal Romance (Arthurian Hearts Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

when we were braided girls.
    But was it truly so? Would she die for me and I for her the same as these two knights would for me? I prayed God our bonds would never be so tested.
    For now, all I was asking was for an errant knight to bide a while and to participate in a festive tourney. An invitation I would extend to any wandering noble out of courtesy. It was mere gratuity that this one happened to excite the eye as well.
    Smiling at the young and earnest knight, I said,” Then I insist you stay. Some of the best knights will come from Cornwall, France and Wales. Even the new high king may send one of his champions along. What better opportunity for an untested knight to acquit himself?”
    “My Lady is kind to assume my abilities might shine in such company.”
    The leap to such a conclusion was not a far one as I drank in sight of him. “Let us just say I have an eye for talent such as yours. And I would very much like to see my assumptions proved.”
    Palomides’ smile was the sun itself. “As you wish.” But as the radiance of his smile disappeared beneath the sweeping bow he made over his horse’s withers, my stomach suddenly knotted. I was no oracle to see the future, only a simple hedgewitch who understood herbs and potions. Why then did a dark foreboding clutch at me, and why did the refrain “I’d die for them and they for me” ring not with the uplifting promise of an everlasting bond but with the vow of doom and prophecy in my ears?

CHAPTER SIX

PALOMIDES
    Even in those first moments of meeting, Yseult could have asked anything of me and I would have agreed. As we rode, I leaned toward her, desperate to catch the scent of her. I could smell leather and horse and the occasional nearby blossoms when I concentrated. Of her, nothing. The curse had left my world much duller, devoid of the vibrant senses I remembered but couldn’t recapture.
    Not so dulled, though, that I couldn’t sense the duplicity in the harper whose nimble fingers so convincingly released melody after haunting melody from his harp’s strings. No mere bard was he, however. Every hooded glance, every move fairly howled pack leader . The reason he would try to keep such birth a secret intrigued me, and I seized on it as a way to distract myself from the mesmerizing spell Yseult had cast upon me.
    “Will my Lord Drustan also be on the list fields at the tourney?” I baited.
    A moment’s hesitance and the slight reset of his jaw assured me the next words from him would be, if not a lie, at least a prevarication. “I am a harper, Sir. Do you mistake me for something else?”
    “No mistake, I think.”
    His body tensed as though on guard against… what?
    “Do you know me then, Sir Palomides? Have we met before?”
    I suppressed a smile. Words and tone both were a challenge, peer to peer. No servant uttered them. Even Yseult knew. From the corners of my eyes I saw her lovely face intent on every word. Did she merely suspect his secret or was she privy to it?
    “And where might we have met? On a list field? In a noble’s hall?” Not that I had frequented either, of course.
    “I have played in a court or two.”
    “Name them for me, bard, and when, and I will tell you if I was there too.”
    “Of recent, Camelot and Tintagel and Joyous Garde. Feats and tourneys both are crowded affairs. You’ll forgive me if I don’t recall having seen you among the guests.”
    The harper’s barb found its mark. The castles named were among the most prestigious. He had been to them and I had not. Still, I felt closer to the truth. “I am not your enemy,” I said softly.
    “Neither are you a friend.”
    I bowed my head in concession. “You are correct. Both are stations that must be earned. Just as favors from women whose pale beauty shines like moonlight on still waters must be earned.” I faced Yseult with my best impish grin. “Or might such favors be free for the asking?”
    Yseult blushed as I expected. What I did not expect was the way