Beneath a Midnight Moon - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,65
the only sign of her inner tension.
She was risking her future, her very life, by being here, and yet she had nowhere else to go, no other course of action to take.
She took a deep breath as she heard footsteps in the outer hall, and then her uncle stood in the doorway. He was an impressive man, tall and brawny, with broad shoulders, and legs that looked as solid as tree trunks. A full beard and a mustache covered the lower half of his face. She could tell by the look in his frigid blue eyes that he wasn’t happy to see her.
“Selene.” He muttered her name as he stepped into the room.
She dropped a curtsey. “Uncle.”
“Where’s your father?”
“He’s dead.”
Bourke’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. With his brother’s death, the throne became more secure. “And your sister?”
“She married Hardane of Argone a fortnight ago.”
“You know that for a fact?” Bourke asked, obviously worried.
“I was there.”
Bourke stared past her, unseeing, as he absorbed this information. Kylene’s marriage to Hardane was an event that the Interrogator had assured him would never take place. Now it was an accomplished fact.
A wedding. A wedding night. Children . . . twins. Bourke grunted softly. The twins that had been foretold by prophesy. The twins who would steal his throne, his power.
“Why have you come here, Selene?”
“I need a place to stay.”
“And you want to stay here?” Bourke looked skeptical.
“No. I want a place of my own, land of my own.”
“I have no land to give away.”
“Perhaps we can make a trade.”
Bourke snorted disdainfully. “What would a mere woman have to trade?”
“My sister for Kildeene Castle.”
Bourke’s eyes glinted with interest. “How do you propose to get her away from Argone?”
“I know a way. Do we have a bargain?”
Bourke nodded slowly.
“I’ll have your word, Uncle.”
“You have it.”
Selene smiled. At last she would have a place of her own, land of her own. She would have no need of a man to rule her. She would take her pleasure where she could find it, and answer to no one.
“There’s a secret entrance that leads from Hardane’s bedchamber all the way to the river on the west side of the keep,” she said. “Unless your men are complete fools, they should be able to slip into the castle unseen, take Kylene, and make their escape without being caught.”
Bourke studied his niece thoughtfully. They had more in common than mere kinship, he mused. Selene was a woman who knew what she wanted and was prepared to do whatever it took to obtain it, even if it meant betraying her own sister, as he had betrayed his brother to obtain the throne of Mouldour.
Bourke grunted softly. It was too bad they shared the same blood, he thought with regret. Selene would have made a fine queen.
Chapter 30
The Interrogator leaned over the rail, his gaze fixed on the sandy shore of the Argonian coast. The woman, Kylene, had set the prophesy in motion by marrying the future Lord of Argone, but she would not live long enough to bear his children. He would have her head when they returned to Mouldour, and the head of the Wolf of Argone as well, if it were possible.
The Interrogator rubbed his hands together. Once he had fixed it so the prophesy could not come true, the throne of Mouldour would be secure. Bourke’s only child was a bastard by birth. She would be easily disposed of when the time came.
Frowning, the Interrogator stared at the waves lapping at the side of the ship. Once Kylene was eliminated, once the fulfillment of the prophesy was no longer possible, there would be nothing to stop him from taking over the throne. He could take the Princess Selene to wife. She would make a powerful ally. If she shared the throne, the people of Mouldour would more readily accept him as Lord High Ruler since she was Carrick’s daughter, and Carrick had been the rightful Lord High Ruler of Mouldour. The people hated Bourke, but they would give their allegiance to Selene, and to the man who made it possible for her to obtain the throne.
It was worth thinking about, and he thought of little else as the ship made its way toward the Argonian coast.
It was after midnight when they dropped anchor in a placid cove.
In the distance, he heard the sound of a waterfall.
Kylene snuggled against Hardane. Drifting between waking and sleeping, she listened to the sound of the waterfall as it splashed over the rocky mountainside to