Untouchable Read Online Free Page B

hair.”
    The witch continued to smile. “The silver has more magic, girl, as I have told you many times before. Wear it beneath your clothes. It will bring you much luck.”
    Verity was going to ask why she needed luck when marrying the emperor was her destiny, but she didn’t get a chance before Mavise handed over the second object she held, a small cloth bag closed with a leather thong and thick with some hidden substance. The old woman laid the bag in Verity’s hand and then covered it with her own. “Be very careful with this, girl.”
    “What is it?”
    “A powerful love potion.”
    Verity’s spine straightened and her chin came up. “I do not need magic to make a man love me.” She was very pretty and young and magnificently charming, and could be sweet and well mannered when it suited her.
    “Take it,” Mavise said. “Your life will be much happier if your husband is madly in love with you and will do whatever you ask of him without question. One pinch of this, and he will be yours forever. One pinch, and your every desire will become his every desire. He will give you all that you wish, all that you yearn for. A few grains, and he will adore you for all of his days.”
    Verity took the bag. She did not think she’d need such a potion, but just in case . . .
    She kissed her mother and hugged Mavise, knowing that she would see them often in the next two days but also knowing she would soon be leaving them behind. It was a little sad. Sad and exciting and scary and wonderful.
    After the other women left her alone for the evening, Verity donned her nightgown and brushed her hair as she thought of the days ahead. The trip to Arthes would be arduous, she imagined, but it was also necessary. She pulled the lucky talisman over her head. Even though the plain adornment was made of stone and silver, she realized she could not have too much good luck in the weeks to come.
    As she was ready to douse the candles, she heard laughter. She walked to the window to look down from her second-story bedchamber at the men who had gathered below to drink and laugh and share stories. Sentinels! The torches which surrounded her home on this mild spring night were bright enough to illuminate them all. There were only three of them, but they were a rugged and uncivilized lot.
    One of the sentinels looked up, even though she had not made a sound. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her. She had noticed this one before. Laris, as she had heard him called, did not seem as uncivilized as the others.
    “Are we disturbing you, m’lady?” he asked in a voice just loud enough to reach her.
    The other two sentinels continued their discussion and laughter, not at all concerned about whether they were disturbing her. Only this one seemed to care. “A bit,” she said. “Tomorrow will be a busy day, and I need my sleep.” She was such a grouch if she did not get proper rest, and there was so much to do before she departed home for her new life as empress.
    “That will not do at all, m’lady.” Laris gave a curt and very manly bow, and then he led the others away from her window. He looked back once and smiled, before the light of the torches no longer reached far enough to illuminate him.
    Verity dismissed the handsome sentinel from her mind, doused the candles, and crawled into bed. Yes, she needed sleep, but could she? Could she rest at all when her mind was spinning so? Yes, she could, she thought with determination. She would dream of being empress, and of having an emperor husband who adored her beyond all reason. She would dream of being the wife of a great man, of having everything any woman might possibly ask for.
    Yes, everything .
Chapter Two
    THE traveling party was much larger—and much slower— than Alix would’ve liked. Still, he remained his usual stoic and calm self as he led Princess Edlyn, the beautiful blue Sanura, their collective guards and servants, and his own sentinels toward Arthes. As the days passed, he