Heart Fate Read Online Free

deeply, we will try grief Healing again. But I don’t think that will happen.”
    He hated this. Hated that she might be right. Hated that she knew him so well and could slice him so deeply.
    Genista rose from the chair and walked to the door. She stopped with her hand on the latch and glanced over her shoulder, appearing much less anxious than when she’d entered. “Tinne,” she said in nearly a whisper, “I know you have a HeartMate.”
    â€œShe’s wed,” he said automatically.
    â€œAnd she’s seventeen, isn’t she? Has she had her Second Passage?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He’d never spoken to Genista about his HeartMate and didn’t want to now.
    Her smile was as sad as her eyes. “You have strong Flair, so she must as well. You’ll link with her during her Passage. I’d rather not be around when that happens.”
    â€œMy fault again,” he croaked.
    â€œNo, once-my-dear.” One of her shoulders rose, then fell. “It’s destiny. We had our time together, and it was good, it was wonderful.” She turned away. “But when times turned bad, they were tragic. I haven’t been able to rise above that tragedy, and I can’t, if I remain wed to you.”
    Blow after blow after blow. In all his life of daily sparring, of deathduels, he’d never felt so pummeled.
    â€œI’d like a new start. In a new place. Gael City, probably. Find your love and claim her.”
    Impossible.
    His wife opened the door and left without a backward glance, closing the door with a final, quiet push.
    Tinne stood and marched stiffly to the bathroom, where he puked his guts up.

Two
    The man was large, tall, and broad. Rough-looking with scars on his face. That alone told Lahsin he wasn’t Druida City born. She bounced off him, and her weak knees might have buckled if he hadn’t grasped her upper arms. She wouldn’t be able to get away from him.
    His brows came down. “Now who are you?”
    She didn’t really know, but said, “Lahsin . . . Burdock.” She didn’t think she wanted her birth name, but she wanted Yew even less.
    He looked up and down wide dawn-empty Bountry Boulevard. She sensed he wasn’t exactly sure where the Burdock Estate was and whether she was near it.
    One side of his mouth quirked up. “Returning from a night out?” His fingers gentled on her arms, then dropped.
    â€œYes, yes,” she babbled, hitching the knot of her bag up her shoulder. “Clothes, you know. My timer is broken.” She waved her arm that had her perfectly good timer under the warm coat. At that moment the sun rose bright enough to show the colors he wore. “You’re a Hawthorn,” she blurted.
    He inclined his torso. “Cratag Maytree, a guard in T’Hawthorn’s household.” He shook his head slowly. “But I don’t think you should be out here on your own, even as early and deserted as it is. P’raps I should see you back to your Residence.”
    She pinned a bright smile on her face. “I’m perfectly fine.” She waved again, and the sleeve of her cloak slipped down. Black bruises from Yew’s fingers showed on her wrist.
    Cratag looked down at his own fingers and flexed his hands, and Lahsin stared at his hands, too. Cratag’s fingers could fit on the bruises. He was a bigger man than Yew, but her ex-husband had large, blunt fingers that didn’t go with the rest of his carefully cultivated aristocratic appearance.
    The heat of humiliation burned her cheeks.
    Cratag put a meaty hand on her shoulder, again gently, and his squeeze was small and comforting, like he knew his strength and used it carefully.
    â€œYou want to press a case for assault?” he asked softly. “Report this to the Druida guardsmen? I know an honorable one.”
    She shook her head frantically. She had to be going. Now. Sooner than now.