WindDeceiver Read Online Free Page B

length of the tent.
    “Damn you!” he spat, seeing her face before him. “Damn you to the Abyss!”
    It was unreasonable. He knew that. His reaction to her was worse than churlish. It was uncivil. The woman couldn’t help looking like Liza. No more than he could help the resemblance between him and his sons, Wyn and Tris. It was a quirk of fate, a twist of nature, that had caused it, nothing more. And yet for some inexplicable reason, he viewed it as a personal affront. Another attempt to destroy him.
    “I won’t let you do it,” he spoke, whether to his gods or to the woman he was thinking of, he wasn’t sure.
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    Either way, he meant to stay as far away from Rachel Stone as he could get!
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CHAPTER THREE
    “How long did you know Hern?” Balizar asked as he adjusted the pillows behind Conar’s back.
    “All my life,” Conar answered and could have bitten his tongue.
    “So you grew up in Boreas,” Balizar said, pretending he had not heard the slip.
    “Aye,” was the stiff reply.
    “Did you train at the keep with my brother?”
    He saw no reason to try to lie if he could help it. Lies had never set well with him and he didn’t tell them very effectively on the few occasions he had attempted to do so, which had been rare, indeed.
    “He was Master-of-Arms at Boreas Keep,” he answered. “Hern trained all the Elite.”
    Balizar nodded. “And were you an Elite?”
    He’d almost fallen into a trap he didn’t even realize had been set. “No.”
    Balizar studied his face and knew that was the truth. He sat down on a small stool and propped his chin in his hand, a habit he had no idea hurt Conar for it was identical to one Hern had had whenever he felt the need to question his young protégé.
    “I heard he was quite a lady’s man.” Balizar wagged his thick white brows. “A trait that runs in the family.”
    Conar smiled, fondly remembering the many conquests of which Hern had bragged. “He had his share of company.”
    “He never married, though,” Conar said.
    “Neither have I,” Balizar announced. “Presumably the same trait runs through the family in that regard, as well.” He smiled. “Did he leave behind a niece or nephew for me, though?”
    Conar shook his head. “Not that I know of, but he loved children. That much, I do know.
    If he’d given a woman a child, Hern would have told the world, had he known of it.”
    “He loved the little Princes like they were his own,” Balizar remarked. “He often wrote to me of them when we were still in contact with one another.”
    It was on the tip of Conar’s tongue to ask how Hern had felt about one young Prince in particular, but he didn’t think that was wise and the man sitting beside him would certainly wonder why he’d ask such a question.
    “Did he ever get after you when you were little?” Balizar asked. At the strange look on his companion’s face, he shrugged. “If you were around him when you were a boy, I would imagine you’d have run afoul of him at some point.”
    Did I ever? Conar thought with fondness, but he didn’t dare tell Balizar that.
    “Come now,” Balizar pressed. “You have a look in your eye that says you did something that Hern wasn’t too pleased about.” He leaned forward. “Tell me!”
    After a moment’s hesitation, he saw no reason not to. What he had remembered was certainly not incriminating.
    “You gonna tell me or keep me guessing?”
    Conar laughed. “It was when I was about four or five, I think. My mother was punishing me for something I’d done and wouldn’t allow me to go into town with her.” He ducked his head.
    “I badgered Hern, though, and he talked to her, told her he’d watch me if she’d let me go along.”
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    “Your mother was one of Hern’s women, then?” Balizar asked, his gaze intent on the young man’s face.
    “No!” came the too-quick reply. He saw the