For Want of a Fiend
Read For Want of a Fiend Online
Authors: Barbara Ann Wright
Chapter Twenty-four: Starbride
Chapter Twenty-eight: Starbride
Chapter Thirty-four: Starbride
Chapter Thirty-eight: Starbride
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
Princess Katya Nar Umbriel’s uncle Roland rose from the grave, kidnapped her cousin, and stripped her of her greatest weapon—her Fiendish power. Without her Fiend, Katya doubts her ability to weather the storm her uncle is brewing. When she lacks what even the children in her family possess, can she even call herself an Umbriel?
In only a short time, Starbride has become the princess consort, a pyradisté, and a member of a secret order in charge of protecting the crown. Even steeped in responsibility, she’s still an outsider. While wading through court intrigue and resisting schemes to break her bond with Katya, Starbride must prepare for a covert war. Roland is waiting, watching, ready for any chink in their armor, and he doesn't care who knows their secrets.
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For Want of a Fiend
© 2013 By Barbara Ann Wright. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-912-1
This Electronic Book is published by
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, New York 12185
First Edition: May 2013
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Cindy Cresap
Production Design: Susan Ramundo
Cover Design By Sheri ([email protected])
The Pyramid Waltz
For Want of a Fiend
Just as before, this book would never have been possible without the love and support of so many people. First, my husband Ross and my mom Linda Dunn. You both keep me going. And thanks again to my Houston writing group, Writer’s Ink: Nia George, Erin Kennemer, Janet Mallard, Trakena Prevost, and Sarah Warburton. You always rise to the occasion. New thanks to my Austin writing group with Matt Borgard, Jim Reader, and Jeb Seibel. Not only are your critiquing skills top-notch, you also saved me from quite a bit of hate mail. Special thanks to my staunch defender Pattie Lawler.
Thanks to Radclyffe and Bold Strokes for continuing on this journey with me, and thanks to Cindy Cresap and Stacia Seaman for their wonderful editing work. And thank you to CenTex writers, Abusing the Universe, Ladies-in-Writing, and the Austin Speed-Writers for welcoming me into your wonderful groups. I’m having the time of my life.
A last thank you to my wonderful pets. You’ve never minded that I talk to myself.
For Pattie. Feelings at you.
Katya crouched in the bushes, the backs of the unsuspecting highwaymen not fifty feet in front of her. Six of them lay in wait for her decoy, the carriage that rattled toward them down the dirt road. As the jingle of the harness and the clatter of the wheels drifted forward on the wind, the highwaymen stiffened. Katya braced herself to charge. Beside her, Brother Brutal did the same, gripping his overlarge mace.
The carriage rounded the corner, a hooded Pennynail driving it; the highwaymen wouldn’t see his mask under the hood. The highwaymen leapt from cover and waved their arms to drive the horses off the road. Katya waited a heartbeat, long enough for a crystal pyramid the size of a child’s fist to come sailing from the other direction. It cracked between the highwaymen and the carriage in a burst of light. When Pennynail threw off the hood, revealing the rosy cheeks and long nose of his laughing Jack mask, Katya and Brutal leapt from cover. A red-fletched arrow struck the shoulder of one highwayman and spun him around but didn’t drop him.
Brutal slammed his mace into the back of one man, who pitched forward onto the road and lay unmoving. Katya’s opponent turned. She slashed at him, and he backpedaled into one of his fellows. Both of them toppled, so Katya turned her attention to another who aimed his sword at her ribs. He wore a fur mantle around his neck, and his creased face seemed nervous but determined. Katya blocked the thrust, and threw Fur Mantle’s sword wide. When he was open, she kicked and made him stagger into the other two who were climbing to their feet.
A body slammed into Katya from the side. She went with the force, rolled along the road, and came up to face the man with the arrow in his shoulder. The other three were getting up, all glaring at her with hatred in their eyes.
A knife thudded into the back of Arrow Man’s head, and he fell. An arrow skimmed by one of the standing three and clipped one on the shoulder. When he shied to the left, Katya lunged and sank her sword into his chest. Fur Mantle and his friend thrust at her with short swords; one grated along her chain shirt and drew a line of pain across her ribs.
Katya drew back, knocked the sword out of the way, and tried to keep both men at bay. Brutal slammed his mace into Fur Mantle’s head with a nauseating crunch.
The other pitched forward, an arrow in his back, the last of the highwaymen to fall. Brutal rested his huge mace on the ground and straightened his red robe. Katya felt along her ribs. Torn cloth poked through the nicked rings of her chainmail, and her bruised flesh ached.
Averie dropped from a tree beside the carriage, her bow slung around her middle. She tossed her long brown braid over her shoulder where it blended with the browns and greens of her leather hunting outfit. “I’m sorry,” she said to Katya. “I’m not used to shooting from trees.”
