Shard Knight (Echoes Across Time Book 1) Read Online Free

through his neck and into his fingertips. With his mind locked, his mouth fell open, and he stared without focus at the buttons in the mirror. The scream conveyed mortal danger, and it hadn’t come from the party four floors below. He couldn’t even hear the orchestra play from the first floor let alone a single voice. The scream came from inside the royal wing.
    Ronan cocked his head and perked his ears.
    Another scream rocked the stark silence of Ronan’s quarters. It sounded like a short guttural command.
    Ronan’s chest tightened, and a wave of numbness rolled through his body that ended with a tingling in his toes. The voice triggered an instinctual response. It belonged to his mother, and she told him to run. He spun and sprinted toward the open closet. As he entered, he pulled the door shut behind him.
    As soon as the door closed, the sound of splintering wood preceded a large crashing noise. A pair of heavy footsteps lumbered against Ronan’s hardwood floor and stopped. “Look under the bed. He’s hiding here somewhere,” a muffled voice said.
    Ronan’s breathing came in labored pulls as he made his way through the dark closet. He recognized that voice, but couldn’t place it. The trunk appeared along his closet’s rear wall, and he flipped open the lid.
    “He’s in here. You didn’t see him come out. Did you?” The voice spoke closer this time. “Check the closet.”
    Ronan pressed a trembling hand onto a thick stack of books piled high inside the trunk. He held back a scream as his subconscious mind gave him the answer. The voice belonged to Bryson Slater.
    The layer of books gave way beneath a heavy spring connecting a false door to the trunk’s bottom. Ronan slipped into the footlocker and pulled the trunk lid closed behind him.
    As the closet door creaked opened, light poured through slits and tiny cracks in the trunk’s walls. “Where in Elan’s seven hells is he?” Hangers clattered and banged against the closet floor as Bryson rummaged through Ronan’s clothing.
    Ronan held his breath and eased the trunk’s false bottom back into place.
    “He’s in that trunk along the wall. See it there? I’d bet my mother’s life on it,” the second voice said. As the trunk’s lid opened, a sliver of Bryson’s pale face appeared through cracks in the false bottom.
    Despite the onset of painful leg cramps, Ronan dared not move a muscle.
    Bryson’s face shifted, and his right eye moved into a position that looked straight into the space Ronan occupied.
    “Books. Leave it to Ronan to have a pile of books in his room,” Bryson said.
    “Books? Are you sure? Let me see,” the second voice said.
    Ronan’s pulse raced so fast his temples throbbed in time with his heartbeat. The breath he’d held since entering the trunk demanded release causing small stars to appear at the edge of his vision. In the next thirty seconds he’d pass out.
    “What you’ll see is that your mother’s life isn’t worth a bucket of piss.” Bryson slammed the trunk closed.
    Ronan released the spent air and breathed creating as little noise as possible. Spasms of pain shot through his leg as they begged for release.
    “Let’s check the other rooms. Maybe the little piss ant went down the hall.” Bryson’s voice trailed off as he left the closet.
    His mother screamed again, this one a bloodcurdling screech that made Ronan’s flesh crawl. He reached behind him, found the small metallic lever near the base of the trunk’s rear wall, and pulled.
    An audible click echoed through the cramped space, and the rear panel dropped open.
    Fresh air rushed into the cramped trunk providing Ronan a strange sense of relief. He pushed himself backward through the panel, stood, and shook the cramps from his legs.
    Darkness pervaded the hallway that offered a stealth retreat for every room located inside the royal wing. Occasional pockets of light spilled through the odd crack casting twisted shadows along the tight passageway.
    He