The Spark of a Feudling Read Online Free Page A

said!” Christian called as she escaped the brambles and pushed to her feet. This time she did glance over her shoulder, but she couldn’t see him through the thickness of the undergrowth. With a curse, she lifted her torn, now slightly bloody skirts and sprinted away.
    ****
    â€œAda! What has happened to your dress?” Vivian asked, her tone too loud and mannish to be considered lady-like as Ada stormed through the front door.
    â€œNothing, Mama,” Ada snapped.
    Vivian followed her in a rustle of silk skirts. “You were with that boy again, weren’t you? The groom?”
    â€œHe’s not just a groom, mother. He’s my friend. He’s always been my friend.” Ada whirled on, unsure why, exactly, she was defending him when she was so furious. But defend him she would. Always. Forever.
    â€œWell, I don’t like it. You’re too old to be chasing him around. He’s going to ruin your reputation! Your chance at a profitable marriage.”
    Ada had almost made her escape. Three more stairs to the landing, and she could escape to her room and leave her mother behind.
    She wasn’t fast enough.
    â€œAda. I do not want you alone with that boy. You will have a proper chaperone at all times or you will stay away from him. Is that clear?”
    Ada whirled on her mother, sparks exploding from her fingertips. The fear she saw in her mother’s eyes shocked her, and the sparks died abruptly. “Fine.” She bit the word off before grabbing up her torn skirts and sprinting up the last steps.
    Safely in her room, she closed the door and leaned against it, one hand on her heart. Her own mother was afraid of her? She was attacked by a myriad of emotions — guilt, fear… and power. A small part of her had liked causing that fear.
    â€œI’m a monster.”

Chapter Two
    â€œBrilliant, Christian.” He’d lost her. “Why did you open your big mouth anyway?” Christian kicked at the ground, watching the dirt clods tumble into the pond. He could go after her, but he’d seen the fury in her eyes. She’d been angry before, but not like this. “You insulted her father, you oaf. You know how she idolizes him!” Christian was aware that he was having a conversation, out loud, with himself. He didn’t care. With a sigh, he crawled through the brambles, leaving their little pond behind.
    He approached the courtyard, hoping she’d be waiting near their bench, but she wasn’t. His eyes, with a will of their own, looked to her balcony, but the windows were shut tight and the curtains drawn. His heart hammered in his chest. He couldn’t lose her. Life would not be worth living without her.
    His mother, Scarlett, was in their little cottage when he slouched through the door. She gave him a brief look before her eyes saddened. “You and Ada had a fight.” Although his mother didn’t have Charity’s gift of sight, she still seemed to know things. “It’s mother’s intuition,” she murmured, stroking his dark hair back from his forehead. “What happened?”
    â€œI tried to tell her the rumors about His Grace.”
    Scarlett sat back, pursing her lips. “She will never listen to a word against her father, Christian, you know that.”
    â€œI thought she would listen to me. I thought…” I thought she loved me. “Where is Charity?” he asked instead.
    â€œShe hasn’t returned from her appointment with the duke.” Scarlett’s eyes flicked uneasily out the window, watching the big house. Scarlett worried about Charity, with her gift of sight and the attacks on seers, but they had lived under the duke’s protection all these years. If the rumors were true and His Grace was the one torturing the seers, he had yet to turn his attention on Charity.
    Even still, Christian could see the barely veiled and quickly growing panic flitting across her