FOREVER ENCHANTED by Maggie Shayne

Author:Maggie Shayne
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Published: 2015-09-08T11:30:40.117000+00:00

Chapter Twelve

TRISTAN PICKED UP the platter and carried it with him to the door. He didn't think his efforts at convincing Bridin had done a bit of good to his cause. She'd shown no signs of listening. Hearing, yes, but not listening.

Except... for that softening he'd detected in her voice when she'd asked him about his mother. Only natural she'd respond to that, he supposed. And she likely would have felt that response no matter who'd been telling the tale. Be it Tristan of Shara or the Lucifer of Christendom. She had a heart as big as the Sharan sky. Always had. It was one of the things that made it so impossible for him to wish her ill, ever, even though she'd been the most serious threat to his rule. She had the capacity to care for someone who was hurt. Even when that someone was him.

And she'd lost her mother as well. So naturally, his similar loss would move her. Not enough to change her mind, however. He was beginning to wonder if anything ever would be.

"Am I confined to this chamber, Tristan?"

He stopped, his hand braced on the open door. "Of course not." Then he turned to face her again. "Bridin, I've told you, you're not here as my prisoner, but for your own protection."

"As long as you refuse to let me leave here at will, I am a prisoner. Though you paint it with pretty motivations, Tristan, it doesn't change the facts."

He drew a breath and sought patience, though his supply was running severely short right now. "You're free to roam the house, Bridin."

"And what about the island? Am I free to roam it, as well, or will I find bolted doors and sealed windows should I try to leave?"

Tristan studied her, looking for signs she was up to something. Then again, it really didn't matter if she was. There was only one way off this island. By boat. And the only boat hereabouts was well hidden, in a secret cave she couldn't find even if she knew it was here. "Fine," he said. "Explore the island, but be careful, Bridin. Never forget, this was supposedly a wizard's home. The home of a man not only powerful, but dangerous."

She lifted her delicate brows. "So nothing's changed, then, has it?" And then she tilted her head. "What do you know of the man who created this place?"

Tristan held the door for her as she passed, and it seemed to him that she looked around her with a newly curious eye. Good. Something to amuse her would keep her distracted, and perhaps she wouldn't try anything foolish. For a little while, at least.

"If he is the same man I'm thinking of—the only Sharan wizard I know of ever having been banished—he was one of the masters assigned to tutor children in the temple. Hundreds of years before my time, it was, but I've heard the tales. He was incredibly powerful. Some said frighteningly powerful. Some even claimed he'd unlocked the secret to immortality.

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