Haunted

Haunted by Annette Gisby

Book: Haunted by Annette Gisby Read Free Book Online
Authors: Annette Gisby
Ads: Link
Chapter One

    Kestan
had been expecting the summons ever since his young charge had caught
him and the stable boy amidst the straw late one night. The fact that
young Prince Tarile should have been abed at that hour was
irrelevant. What Kestan had done, what both of them had done, was
illegal; there was no getting around that fact. King Varathorn would
have been well within his rights to send for the palace guard and
send Kestan to rot in the dungeons, but in the past two weeks, no
guardsmen had come calling. Kestan lived in dread every day and when
the knock on his door came; he opened it with a heavy heart. Hard
labour or a lifetime in prison if he was lucky; the hangman's noose
or axe if he was not.
    But the man standing at the door was not a guard; it was Rorgil, King
Varathorn's valet and right-hand man.
    "The master wants to see you in his study," said Rorgil,
his words indistinct through his overly prominent front teeth. "He
only ever sees people in his study when he gives them their marching
orders."
    Kestan didn't reply, in all truth the man was probably right. He
followed the rat-like man down the winding staff staircases; staff
weren't allowed to use the sweeping marble stairs that led up from
the ground floor to each wing of the palace. The staff stairs were
narrow and dark, with nary a window on any of the small landings. By
the time they reached the back hall Kestan was accepting of his fate.
It would be hard to get another position without a good reference,
but it could be done. He was still alive and looked to be that way
for the foreseeable future.
    Rorgil led him out into another hallway, this one panelled in oak
that had darkened over the years, with former Varathorn ancestors
glancing down their noses at everyone who passed beneath their gilded
picture frames. Rorgil stopped at a heavy oak door and tapped on it
twice with a white-gloved hand.
    "Enter," came the imperious voice of King Varathorn.
    Kestan turned the handle and prepared to meet his doom.
    King Varathorn was one of the most handsome men Kestan had ever seen.
His face was as pale as the marble statues that inhabited his formal
garden and his hair was an ashy blond, almost silver in certain
lights. He wore it long, tied back with a black ribbon, but no one
looking at him could ever mistake him for a woman. Varathorn's jaw
was wide and angular, his eyes grey and calculating. They raked over
Kestan now and Kestan had to stop himself from reacting to the
scrutiny. Kestan'ss weakness had always been beautiful men and if
King Varathorn hadn't been his employer, Kestan knew he would have
tried to become better acquainted with the man. Kestan knew his place
though, knew that the likes of King Varathorn were not for him.
    "Ah, Kestan," said Varathorn, putting down his quill and
shaking sand over his letter. "You know that I will have to
dismiss you, don't you?"
    "As you wish, sire."
    "It is not what I wish at all, but my son must be protected.
What he saw that night he should never have seen. He is an innocent
in such matters; I'm not even sure he knows exactly what it is he
saw. Thank the gods for small mercies."
    Kestan tried not to laugh. Prince Tarile an innocent in the ways of
the flesh? Kestan decided it was best not to tell his soon to be
former employer the many times Tarile had missed his lessons in order
to spend time down in the village with any girl who would spread her
legs for him. Rumours had already reached the palace that the boy had
left behind more than his money and honeyed promises.
    "I have secured you another place," Varathorn continued "I
only met the man once at some function or other, but he did say he
was looking for a tutor for his son. Grunhall, the fellow is. He's
only a contry knight, but beggars can't be choosers, can they?"
Varathorn shuddered at the thought. "He lives in the back of
beyond but he has ideas above his station. The man will be most
impressed that his son's tutor once tutored a prince. I haven't told
him the

Similar Books

Swann

Carol Shields

Desert

J. M. G. Le Clézio

4 Impression of Bones

Melanie Jackson

Zoo

Tara Elizabeth

Past Tense

Catherine Aird

Midnight Falcon

David Gemmell

Her Vampire Ward

Britten Thorne

Freedom Ride

Sue Lawson

The Treasure Hunt

Rebecca Martin