Rebellion: Tainted Realm: Book 2 Read Online Free Page B

Glynnie.”
    “Lord?”
    “My parents were executed for high treason,” he said softly. “House Ricinus has fallen, the palace lies in ruins and I betrayed my own mother. I am utterly dishonoured.
Don’t call me Lord!”
    “R-Rixium?” She tugged at his arm, the good one.
    “That’s what my murdering mother called me. Call me Rix.”
    Glynnie rubbed his eyelids with her fingertips. The sticky secretions parted to reveal a slender servant girl, about seventeen years old. Tangled masses of flame-coloured hair, dark green eyes and a scatter of freckles on her nose. Rix had not yet turned twenty yet he felt a lifetime older. Foul and corrupt.
    “Get up,” she said.
    “Give me a minute.”
    They were on the top of his tower, at the rear of what remained of Palace Ricinus. From where Rix lay he could not see over the surrounding wall – and did not want to. Did not want to see the ruin a hundred-foot fall had done his dearest friend.
    A freezing wind carried the stink of burned deer meat, the forgotten skewers Glynnie had been cooking over the embers of Rix’s artist’s easel. He would never paint again. Beside the fire stood a wide-eyed boy of ten, her little brother. A metal drinking cup sat on the stone floor. Some distance away lay a bloody sword. And a small puddle of blood, already frozen over.
    And a right hand, severed at the wrist.
    Rix’s right hand.
    Something collapsed with a thundering crash not far away, and the tower shook.
    “What was that?” said Rix.
    Glynnie ran to the wall, went up on tiptoes and looked over. “Enemy’s blasting down the palace towers.”
    “What about Caulderon?”
    Her small head turned this way and that, surveying the great city. What was left of it.
    “There’s smoke and flame everywhere. Rix, they’re coming. Tell me what to do.”
    “Take your brother and run for your life. Don’t look back.”
    “We’ve nowhere to go, Lord.”
    “Go anywhere. It’s all the same now.”
    “Not for us. We served House Ricinus; we’re condemned with our house.”
    “As am I,” said Rix.
    “We swore to serve you. We’re not running away.”
    “Lyf hates Herovians, especially me. He plans to put me to death. But he doesn’t know you exist.”
    “I’m not leaving you, Lord – Rix.”
    Rix did not have the strength to argue. “What about Benn? If the Cythonians find him with me, they’ll kill him too.”
    “Not runnin’ either,” said Benn. “We can’t break our sworn word, Lord.”
    Unlike me, Rix thought bitterly. The servants outreach the master. “Ah, my head aches.”
    “That mongrel captain knocked you out,” said Glynnie. “And the chancellor – he –” Her small jaw tightened. “He’s a useless, evil old windbag. He’s lost Caulderon and he’s going to lose the war. No one can save us now.”
    “
You
can, Lord,” said Benn, his eyes shining. “You can lead Hightspall to victory, I know it.”
    “Hush, Benn,” said Glynnie. “Poor Rix has enough troubles as it is.”
    But he could see the light in her eyes as well, her absolute belief in him. It was an impossible burden for a condemned man and he had to strike it down. Hightspall was lost; nothing could be done about it.
    “Benn,” he said softly, speaking to them both. “I can’t lead
anyone
. The chancellor has destroyed my name and all Hightspall despises me —”
    “Not all, Rix,” said Glynnie. “Not us. We know you can —”
    “No!” he roared, trying to get up but crashing painfully onto his knees. “I don’t even believe in myself. No army would follow me.”
    Benn’s face crumpled. “But, Lord —”
    “Shh, Benn,” said Glynnie hastily. “Let me help you up, Lord.”
    She was stronger than she looked, but Rix was a huge man and it was a struggle for her to raise him to his feet. The moment he stood upright it felt as though his head was going to crack open. Through a haze of pain and dizziness he heard someone shouting orders.
    “Search the rear towers next.”