Untouchable Read Online Free Page A

desires, but there had also been a blackness that hid from her, a darkness that slept.
    If she joined with him, she would see past the blackness. If they had sexual relations, she would know Prince Alix to his soul, because there were no secrets when she and another were linked. Mere men desired the Agnese because in an instant, every desire they possessed could be realized and met. There was no physical sensation to compare with sex with an Agnese female. Silly men, they did not know how deeply they were joined in that moment, how much of themselves they gave to the woman they saw only as a possession, an object of pleasure.
    They did not know that with every joining, the woman who pleasured them became stronger, that she took as much as she gave.
    Prince Alixandyr would be a good lover, she suspected. He was handsome and healthy and well built. He had the look of a man who was more warrior than prince, more soldier than politician, more civilized than not. He was strong and considerate and—sleeping blackness aside— there was a kindness in his green eyes. What a shame that she was intended for his brother, the emperor. If the black-haired, green-eyed prince dared to touch her, if he caressed her skin and stained himself with her blue, Paki and Kontar would not hesitate to kill him.
    LADY Verity of the Northern Province, only daughter— only child—of a wealthy merchant who owned nearly all of the town of Mirham and much of the land beyond the city, was filled with excitement. At last, at last , she was going to escape her sometimes dreary and always predictable life!
    She did not bother to hide her joy from the two women who were in her bedchamber, as she tried to decide which of her many gowns to take with her. She certainly did not wish to drag them all, but there were a few things she would not leave behind. She looked excellent in blue and in rose. The green and yellow she could leave behind. Once she was empress, everything could be replaced, but until then she would need her favorite and most flattering things. She’d be leaving home in two days, and she was not at all ready! Well, mentally she was ready, but she still had so much to do.
    Her mother tried not to cry but did not entirely succeed. Verity had told her mum many times that she would visit Arthes often, once she was mother to the empress. Those words didn’t help much. Verity tried very hard not to let her mum see her own infrequent tears. Of course she was looking forward to being empress, but she would miss her parents.Still, she was nineteen years old, and it was time for her to begin the life she’d been promised.
    Her mum’s witch, the sweet if occasionally creepy Mavise, remained calm while the other two females in the room alternately sniffled and agonized over what to pack. Mavise had always known, of course, that this day would come. For the past nineteen years she had said that Verity was destined to be the wife of a great man who had come from humble beginnings. Verity had always wondered how that would be possible, since there were very few great men in the Northern Province and, thanks to her father’s wealth, she knew none who had come from humble beginnings.
    But when the request had come from the palace in Arthes, and her father had told her the story of the emperor’s lost and decidedly humble years, she had known the truth. She was going to be empress.
    “Do not waste your time packing too many things you will not need,” Mavise said calmly. “Too many unnecessary possessions will only slow your journey.”
    “What do I need, then?” Verity asked.
    “Only two things are of importance.” Mavise smiled as she reached into the deep pocket of her plain dress and withdrew the objects in question. “First, this talisman I fashioned for you.” She offered a wrapped amber stone at the end of a long silver chain.
    Verity sighed as she took it. “Mavise, you know I prefer gold to silver. It’s more flattering with my golden