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    Weaving Words
    Weaving Words
    Weaving Words
    Ebook138 pages1 hour

    Weaving Words

    By Kim Knox

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Easy part of his day?

    Resurrecting the dead.

    Hard part?

    Keeping them alive.

    Kaede is a witch whose family has been bound for over a thousand years.  He's sworn to his lord. A lord who murdered his mother and could kill him with only seven words.

    Now he's been commanded to use his unique powers to resurrect his lord's wife from the dead…but he pulls the wrong soul back. 

    Vara's day couldn't get much more bizarre. One moment she's a captain in the Temple Guard. The next, she finds herself transported into a world of magic and witches—and stuffed into the body of a lord's wife.

    Unwillingly plunged into middle of a deadly power struggle, the only one Vara can turn to is Kaede, the witch responsible for dragging her into this alien world. A witch she finds far too attractive…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKim Knox
    Release dateJul 3, 2017
    ISBN9781386679707
    Weaving Words

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      Book preview

      Weaving Words - Kim Knox

      1

      The corpse’s heart juddered and then began to pump fresh, slow blood through its decaying veins.

      Not decaying any more, Kaede murmured.

      What was that, witch?

      Kaede ignored his lord’s question. His eyes stayed with the body on the altar, watching as blood flushed the exposed skin not covered by its simple white funeral shift. Nothing, lord. His fingers dipped into a pot of liquid gold, sweeping intricate symbols over her face and neck. The symbols writhed and Kaede snatched his

      fingers

      away

      .

      He winced. These were the final rushes of power. She was almost there, almost returned to bright life. Almost.

      He risked a look to the arched entrance of the ancient cavern. Light edged over the sky in a soft pale grey. It was only dawn. That knowledge had tiredness eating into his bones.

      Had he only been bonded to her for a few hours? It felt like forever.

      Since midnight, he’d stood over the Lord Tarou’s dead wife and worked his skill. A skill he shouldn’t have, and certainly not one his lord should know about.

      The shadows cast by the twisting patterns covering the woman’s skin danced over the cavern wall. Kaede kept his gaze fixed on his gold-smeared fingers. Tarou knew what he was and that scared Kaede more than bringing a dead woman back

      to

      life

      .

      How had his lord known?

      Kaede’s jaw tightened. He knew his mother had to have talked in her final hours. Tarou had presided over her interrogation, obviously wrung secrets from her in her final breaths. The old soured anger swelled again, tasting bitter on his tongue, but he cut out those thoughts. They had no place in his head. He had a job

      to

      do

      .

      He forced his gaze back to the woman’s face—her features calm and delicate even as she fought her way back to life. He hoped the Lord Tarou knew what he was doing. His wife couldn’t be that vital

      to

      him

      .

      The rumours ran that she was only a bartered woman from a wealthy Northern family. She had no connections, no special talents. To risk a resurrection was insane. Kaede said a silent prayer for his

      own

      soul

      .

      Her lips parted. Dry. Cracked. With a cry, her spine arched away from the cold slab of the altar, her limbs twisting. Kaede grabbed at her arms, and held her down as her soul clawed its way back into her body. The witch willed all of his strength into keeping her still. Her soul had to settle. That fact the scrolls had stressed, stressed in blood

      and

      bone

      .

      Witch, what is happening?

      Kaede gritted his teeth. "She is almost back with

      us

      ,

      lord

      ."

      She shrieked, the cry piercing Kaede’s heart. That hadn’t been in the scrolls. A soul was supposed to crave the touch of its body. But he couldn’t panic.

      Not

      now

      .

      She fell limp to the stone in a sudden rush, dragging Kaede, forcing him to push hard against her arms. She groaned. He released his tight grip, his trembling hands taking support from the raised lip of the

      stone

      dais

      .

      Her breathing was slow and even, and there, brightening her skin, was a living flush to her cheeks. The Lady Annaliese was the most beautiful woman in the king’s court. Kaede’s eyes flicked to the hovering lord. He stood taut, grim, his stark face intent in the candlelight. Tarou wanted more than just his pretty wife. It was there in his narrowed, black gaze and the whitened fingers that gripped the dagger at

      his

      hip

      .

      Kaede stared back at Annaliese, watched as her eyelashes struggled to release the oil clogging them. He’d assumed that she was just the vacuous smile gracing Lord Tarou’s arm. He’d seen nothing special in her. Nothing

      at

      all

      .

      What had he missed?

      Kaede rubbed gently at the muck and oil the ceremony required, erasing it from her skin in the reverse of how he had drawn it. With a final Word, the ash circle protecting them both swirled into the air and vanished.

      Her eyes flickered open. They were a dark blue—evidence of her Northern Clan. There was no focus, just wild fear. Kaede blinked. He had never seen that before, none of the lords’ wives showed any emotion other than perfect serenity and happiness. Their lives depended

      on

      it

      .

      Lady? Kaede whispered, bending to catch sound from her parched mouth. His hand gripped the dais, giving support to his

      exhausted

      body

      .

      Her lips moved and there was a rush of nonsensical syllables. She searched his face for understanding and her

      panic

      grew

      .

      Pulling in his control, Kaede pressed his thumb into her forehead and forced out tired Words, grimacing at the pull of them in his flesh. He murmured a silent prayer, needing his final spell to work. Maybe he was wrong.

      Maybe

      —

      What is this place? Who are you? Why… She reached up to tug at his thin, silver robe. Kaede lurched over her as she caught him by surprise. He stared at her as her voice faded away. A knot tightened in his stomach. What had he done? He’d failed. That failure would see her dead again. And him right along

      with

      her

      .

      Is she well, witch? Tarou demanded, pushing forward to stand beside his silent wife. Annaliese simply stared at her moving fingers, examined her palm, ignoring her husband.

      Yes, lord. Kaede pushed back the hood of his robe and held the woman’s staring eyes. The resurrection was successful. The lie soured his mouth.

      Tarou’s dark gaze narrowed and the tell-tale muscle jumped in his jaw. The one his household had come to fear. Kaede’s heart tightened and he willed his expression calm. His mother had drilled him daily in the art of his carving out a blank mask from the time he was a small boy. It’d saved him more

      than

      once

      .

      You don’t sound confident, Witch Kaede.

      Lord, your wife is alive and whole.

      Tarou’s gaze bore into him and Kaede fixed his face in stone, controlling his breathing. Your position in my household depends on this, witch. I want you to prove that you are as fine as your mother. His stern mouth quirked upwards. "Before she

      failed

      me

      ."

      Kaede pushed down the dangerous surge of emotion. He could not physically harm Lord Tarou, even though the man had his mother put to death. Ancient Words, spoken almost a thousand years before, would tear him apart. Tarou was the lord and master of his household; with the ultimate right of life or death over everyone bound to him. Yes, lord, he murmured, bowing his head. "I work tirelessly in service to you. The Lady Annaliese has returned

      to

      us

      ."

      Kaede stared at her as she lay on the dais. For a moment, he thought he caught something in her eyes, a flash of sharp and wary intelligence. It had to be a false flicker of candlelight as she turned a soft, vacant look back to her husband.

      Kaede wanted to wipe the sweat from his forehead and neck, but he had to

      remain

      calm

      .

      Tarou snapped his fingers at

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