The Golden Barbarian Read Online Free Page B

and said that this was the last straw. The bitch will not mate, and Apollo had almost cost him dear.” Her enormous eyes were filled with tears that shimmered in the candlelight. “He ordered them both killed.”
    He felt a sudden surge of tenderness as he gazed at her. He, too, had experienced the pain of having beloved animals taken from him by death. “I’m sorry.”
    “I did not come to you for sympathy. I need help.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “It’s not done yet, and I can’t let it happen. As soon as they locked me in my chamber, I came out the secret passage and across the courtyard to the kennels to see Simon, the kennel master. He’s a good man. He said he could put off killing the dogs, but they must be gone before my father visits in the morning.”
    “And you want
me
to get rid of them?”
    “No, I wanted Sacha, but he was in—”
    “His cups,” Galen finished. “So I’m your second choice.”
    “Don’t you see? I have no place to take them where they’ll be safe, and, in truth, you are a much better choice than Sacha,” she said eagerly. “Because even if Sacha sent the dogs to one of his estates in the country, my father might still hear of it and take action, but he would never go to Sedikhan.”
    “True. Who would go to such a savage wasteland?”
    She ignored the irony in his tone. “You saw Apollo. I know he’s gentle, but he’s only a little over a year old, and perhaps he could be taught to hunt or guard your home. And Daphne—”
    “Refuses to breed.”
    “You could find another use for her.” Tess’s voice was shaking. “She’s very good-tempered and loving. She comes when I call her and puts her head beneath my hand and her hair feels so soft and—” Her voice broke, and she had to stop for a moment. When she spoke again, her words were almost inaudible. “I love them so. I can’t let them die. Please, will you take them away from here?”
    He was journeying by land, and the animals would be nothing but trouble on the long road home. He would be a fool to burden himself with two animals already considered useless. Yet Galen found himself immeasurably moved by Tess’s plea. She was clearly a poignantly lonely child, and the wolfhounds were probably the only things she loved in this world. Yet she was being forced to beg him to rob her of them. Galen sighed in resignation. “Where are they now?”
    Her face was suddenly luminous with hope. “You’ll do it?”
    He nodded reluctantly. “Though how I’ll manage them on the journey back to Sedikhan, I have no idea. Said and I don’t travel with the same pomp and fanfare as the nobles of your court.”
    She collapsed back against the cushions of the chair as the tension left her. “Thank God.”
    “I don’t mean to be blasphemous, but shouldn’t your thanks include me? I’m the one who’s going to be severely inconvenienced for the next several weeks.”
    “I do thank you.” Her voice vibrated with passionate sincerity. “And I promise I’ll find a way to repay you.”
    He looked at her quizzically. “Indeed? And just what would you do to express your gratitude?”
    “Anything,” she said simply. “Anything at all.”
    She meant it. He could almost feel the intensity of the emotion sweeping through the young girl. “Without reservations?” A curiously arrested expression crossed his face as a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Someday I may decide to take advantage of your generous offer.” He came across the room and drew her to her feet. “But not now. Where is this secret passage?”
    She gestured to a candelabra affixed to the wall a few feet away. “You turn the candelabra to the left.”
    Galen twisted the candelabra, and a recessed wooden panel swung open. “Back to your chamber now. I’ll get dressed and go down to tell yourkennel master to take the dogs to the woods beyond the castle and wait for Said and me.”
    “What if he won’t do it?”
    “He’ll do it.