Daughter of the Stone by Char Marie Adles (best black authors txt) 📖

anyone before, so I stepped forward, out from under his hands and shadowed Merlin.

“We will go to the meeting for the king, but first she needs to have a change of clothes first,” Merlin said with a glance in my direction. Though his face showed no emotion, his eyes held a twinkle of humor, but as quickly it appeared it disappeared.

Upon entering the great hall of the castle I was eyed by all we passed. I didn’t like being in the eyes of others, I liked being in the shadows. I found their gazes strange until I heard someone whisper, “It’s the mages.”

 Just that tone they used grated on my nerves. They made magic sound as if it were a disease, a curse. Without realizing what I was doing I whispered a spell under my breath. Too late had Merlin launched himself at me and covered my mouth with his hand.

“You must not do that here,” he warned me in a whisper.

The touch of his skin to mine was as cold as ice and I shook my head to shake his hand loose. When he didn’t move his hand I bit him, the blunt gesture of aggression seemed to have my point. Never do that again.

Eyes widening with disbelief he held his injured hand to his chest. Bite marks were visible against his pale white skin. Slowly his eyes narrowed and I felt a push against my mind. I shoved back and growled low in my throat. The touch against my mind faded away quickly and Merlin seemed to smile under his thick beard.

My little spell in those few seconds they had forgotten about it had taken affect. I watched as people ran away screaming as a large white snake slithered across the rushes beneath their feet. Even the distant Balthazar seemed to enjoy the little show. He leaned against the far wall close by with the corners of his mouth upturned.

I bent down as the snake slithered over to me and I lent out my arm. It twisted its way up my arm and rested around my upper arm, shrinking. It looked at me for a moment with its black eyes before, with a hissing laugh, turned into a silver arm band.

“Magnificent,” Lancelot breathed from behind me over my shoulder. He reached out a finger to touch the armband and it turned its head to hiss at him. He flinched back and gave a nervous laugh. Just then there was a rushing sound of boot soles ringing on the stone floor and that was accompanied by a shout.

“Lancelot, there you are! Do you have any idea of how many people are looking for you? I should have known you’d be with Merlin,” shouted a tall young warrior of amazing height and muscle. His long brown hair fell into his eyes as he came to a halting stop next to him.

“King Arthur wants to speak with…” he drifted off on his words as his eyes found me and stared at me face.

“About what?” Lancelot asked bringing the man’s attention back to him.

The man’s eyes snapped back to Lancelot’s face and he grinned, pointing at me. “Her.”

A frown crossed Lancelot face. “How could he know?”

The warrior shrugged. “He was going to put you in charge of obtaining this person. I had no idea it was a girl, but at least you have her. Best hurry her before him before the meeting starts.” With that he turned on heel and ran off again.

“This may not go as planned,” Merlin said cryptically. “Let us go.”

I followed close by in the shadows as we walked down the dimly lit passageway. I had a feeling something was about to change drastically. I had no idea just how it would change.

 

 

…

 

 

Upon my entrance into the throne room behind Merlin and the others, a knight took it upon himself to pounce on me like a madman.

He had yelled, “I’ve finally caught you, you murder!”

It quickly turned into a fight between us. The man was thrice my size, but he was clumsy on his big feet. I almost had him in a hold that would have made him sleep, when someone bellowed, “What is going on here!”

I paused long enough for the knight to get a hold on me and I felt the bite of his fist against my chin. Blood flowed and I became angry. Seeing stars I growled, took his fist pressing it inwards and used my weight to flip him over my head. I took a knife from his belt and threw it at him. It landed quietly nicely between his legs in the wood floor. Before I got another hold on the man, someone even bigger grabbed me from behind, pulling me against a chest covered in heavy muscle and chainmail.

“I asked ‘what is going on here’,” the voice rumbled behind me, against my back. The man gave me a shake as I was about to turn in his arms and claw his face. That shake didn’t stop me however from slamming the heel of my foot into his knee. With a gasp he loosened his hold and I turned on him, claws extended.

I was furious at being man-handled and they would pay for having held me down. But now there were scores of people gathering in the room, but only a few tried to help, to try and pull me off the man. Finally they pulled me off the man and I growled at him on the ground.

His face sported tiny bleeding scratches and nicks everywhere and he looked shocked as he looked at me.

The people pulling me back dislodged the cloak and it fell away revealing my body in the tunic beneath, my chest heaving. It wasn’t the man’s darkly handsome face that stopped me, but the golden-green eyes. The eyes of a lion. The eyes of a king.

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Publication Date: 04-09-2011

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