The Melody and the Master (Darkwood Cycle #1) by Sarah M. Cradit

Author:Sarah M. Cradit [Cradit, Sarah M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storyville Press

* * *

“Where were you? Where did he take her?” Fen was flushed and breathless as he hastened to keep up with Pesha. He ran two paces behind him in the central hall, past the tall windows.

“Into the woods,” Pesha answered, brisk and detached. It wasn’t the same man Fen had dined with, laughed with.

“For what?”

Pesha rounded into the next hall and stopped just before the library. With a hard sigh, he turned back. “You really need to make amends with your sister.”

Fen’s anxiousness coiled tighter. “I thought you, of everyone, understood—”

“He’s being reckless with her.” Pesha pushed out a stilted breath. He raked his hands through his hair, exhaling again. “You saw him leave the ballroom last night.”

“The whole of Darkwood Run saw. It was dis—”

“Reckless,” Pesha said for him. His cheeks twitched with agitation. “He locked me out. I couldn’t...” He shook his head. “He was in there with her, alone, all night. And then today... Today, he wanted to take her into the woods, alone, and I refused to let it happen.”

Maybe she’ll kill the man, and we can be done with this farce, Fen thought, but he said, “If he wants to be reckless, then the consequences are his to accept. It’s not your job to make his choices for him.”

“I wish it was!” Pesha thundered. “You don’t know what it’s like, Fen. You...” He trailed off, shaking his head at the ground. “I suppose you do know. And now, we have to watch them both be reckless together.”

“Why...” Fen lowered his voice when two of the house staff walked by. “Why did he take her into the woods?”

“To mix up their bedchamber activities? I don’t know.” Pesha pressed his hand to the library door. “He showed her the tree we both played at as boys. And then he defiled it.” He snorted. “He didn’t call for more women last night, and he told Wulf he’d take tonight off too.”

Fen drew back. “Isn’t that a good thing, Pesh? Hasn’t this been atop your list of concerns for years now?”

“Not if it means...” Pesha swung his hand back down and crossed his arms. “There’s just... things you and your sister don’t know, and never will. Des may be enamored with Siofra now, and perhaps it’s even healing something in them both, but wounds don’t heal by laying a satin sheet over them, do they?”

Fen held his hands out in confusion. Pesha was often mysterious, but this was the most he’d ever hinted at something terrible in their past without actually saying it. “I don’t understand either of you Trevanions, truth be told. Your brother claims he wants a broodmare without the trappings of love and is now sequestering himself away with Siofra like a man possessed. And you mumble and whine about his evening proclivities, but when he tries to solve his problems another way, that, too, is anathema to you.”

Pesha narrowed his eyes. “Whose side are you on here, Stiofen? You’re either estranged from your sister or you’re defending her honor once more.

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