Love's Captive Heart by Phoebe Conn

Author:Phoebe Conn [Conn, Phoebe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2017-12-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

While Aldred attempted to calm Thulyn, Mylan walked swiftly to his father's side and whispered a terse explanation of what had transpired. Stunned by the announcement of Oluf's death, Aldred gave his wife a withering glance, which immediately hushed her tears. The day had been going well in his estimation—the Torgvald brothers were as crude a lot as he had expected them to be, but they had not caused any trouble and he had thought his efforts to include them in his family gathering a success. It had been one, he knew it had, until someone had lured Oluf to his death.

He stared straight at Celiese, his eyes widening as he realized she might well be the one who had killed Oluf, while Mylan might be lying to protect her. Furious that so innocent-appearing a young woman had again been the cause of tragedy in his home, he cleared his throat and announced loudly to his guests, "My friends, I beg you not to let the frightening nature of Mylan's appearance upset you as greatly as it did his mother. He has suffered only a small mishap, so there is no reason to interrupt our celebration," He lifted his ornately decorated drinking horn in a toast to the crowd, sat down and hugged Thulyn warmly as though nothing were amiss.

Celiese looked up at Mylan, unable to comprehend why his father had told such a preposterous lie. Surely someone would notice Oluf was missing before long. It would take only a brief search to locate his body, and there would be no mystery as to how he had died. "Mylan!" she whispered a desperate plea, praying that he would be more sensible than his father, and to her great relief, he was.

Mylan understood Celiese's concern at once, for he had not expected his father to pretend nothing had happened when he had just admitted killing a man. He knew his parent's excuse would soon be recognized for the transparent fabrication it was, and then there would be chaos for certain. Seeking to be well prepared for that unfortunate eventuality, he went to Hagen's side and confided in a low voice, "Keep the Torgvalds amused for as long as you can. I will be back as soon as I have changed my clothes and I will need all the help you can give me."

"You shall have it," Hagen agreed, for he was not nearly so gullible as their guests and knew from Mylan's tone that he had been involved in something dreadful indeed. Since it seemed to involve the Torgvalds, he looked quickly in their direction. Noting Oluf's absence, he was afraid he already knew what had happened. That Celiese was with his older brother alarmed him too, for her gown was as soiled as Mylan's linen tunic, and he could not understand how she could have become so disheveled unless she had been thrown in the dirt.

His imagination filled in all the missing details in so lurid a fashion he

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.