The Assassin Princess (The Legacy Novels Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

continued on out of sight. Across the river was more forest that rose up an incline, forming the horizon against a clear blue sky.
    On her side, the bank was grassy and short, enough room for only a handful of people, the trees closing on either side, breaching the river. There was a mixture of red and black berries littering the branches, the fruit full and ripe. She walked toward them, eyeing them mistrustfully before taking to the river’s edge instead. The water was clear, fast, and fresh.
    The unicorn appeared at her side. “This is the crossing of Solancra,” he said, “and this is where our land, and our protection, ends. The forest across the way belongs to the Planrus Lands, and from then on your only protection shall be Hero and the knowledge I arm you with now. But first, please, drink from the water. It is pure. Eat the fruit.”
    Ami got to her knees and looked down into the fast flowing waters, her reflection shattered and blurred. There were no fish that she saw, though the water was deep and wild, and could have held anything below its surface. She bowed onto her front, her hair trailing and drawing lines in the stream, and dipped her mouth to the water.
    It was cold and delicious, and made her whole body tingle. She dipped in once more, taking down a few mouthfuls before sitting back up, wiping her face, and looking at the unicorn.
    Xavier watched the opposing bank.
    Watching you .
    “Can you feel it too?” Ami asked, startling the unicorn.
    “I can feel it, yes. It is Adam. He watches us, watches you. It’s all he can do right now, but yes, I can feel it. It feels like ice.”
    Ami shuddered. She pulled up from the bank, and feeling her stomach roar, approached the fruit again. She took a berry from the nearest branch—a ripe red—and popped it into her mouth. The juices broke like an explosion on her tongue, the taste like nothing she’d ever tasted before. She ate a few more, savouring them.
    “If the city was doing so well, why did my father leave? Why is this Adam so angry?” She ate another berry and glanced across the river. The water shimmered and flashed, images forming and rising from the water, floating upon surface. There was a man who rode a horse through fields, across hills, a crystal-tipped spear at his side.
    “Hundreds of years passed in peace and prosperity, and through that time, one family clung to power. A son or daughter would inherit the land as the last lord or lady died, but hate, jealousy, and deceit soon reared their heads in each new generation. A son who would challenge his father’s rule; a daughter would poison her mother and steal the horn. Peace and prosperity, like beauty, is only ever in the eye of the beholder, and though the city thrived and the lands expanded, the rulers became ruthless and cruel; it changed hands frequently.
    “The lords and ladies would ride from the city into the Planrus Lands to hunt, and it was on such an excursion that Lord Harold became curious. He’d been lord for only a few years, but had heard stories about an impenetrable forest in the north, a forest that, no matter the attempt, never yielded. Axes would blunt, swords would break; climbing was treacherous and ended in surrender or death. He went to find it, and find it he did.”
    Hero walked from the forest as Ami sat upon the grassy bank, her eyes fixed to the rushing river, watching history unfold.
    “Lord Harold tried his sword on a branch, but the sword flew from his hand. He tried to climb, and fell. With the horn-tipped spear he tried to stab the trees, yelling for entry, and found himself thrown backward into his horse that galloped away, back to the city.
    “He was stranded, but determined. The horn had corrupted his heart with such arrogance, such assuredness, that he walked to the east and followed the impenetrable forest wall until he came to this very river. He followed it, finding the entrance to the forest where the river springs.
    “None saw him