Read Locked in Silence: Grimm's Circle, Book 5 for Free Online

him.
    The sight of their dead bodies, the sight of the blood brought the memories rushing back.
    A fat, foul-smelling man— I will fight for his soul. I will clean him of this devil curse …
    Pain, so much of it. He shuddered, gripped the axe harder, barely aware of those around him who spoke.
    “Your majesty, I strongly suggest you ignore the lady. She is overly emotional. He saw too much.”
    There was a heavy sigh. “I did not ask for your opinion.”
    “Sire—”
    “He saved our lives. I will not blindly overlook that. Now be silent .”
    The harsh fury in the man’s voice made him cringe as he sat there, shuddering, reliving so many ugly, awful memories. From the corner of his eye, he saw him coming, saw him standing over him.
    “Look at me, boy.”
    He did not dare.
    “I said—”
    “Oh, stop yelling at him,” she said. “Can you not see his fear?”
    Then she knelt by him, an angel in pink and gold. Uncaring of the blood on him, she reached out and touched his arm. “Will you look at me, boy? Please?”
    He darted a look. Then looked away.
    “What is your name?”
    He shook his head. A name. He had a name. But he had no way to tell her.
    “You have no name?”
    He hesitated then shook his head. He had a name. One he did not remember, and even if he did, he could not tell her. Slowly, he reached up and touched his mouth, shook his head, watching her from the corner of his eye, not daring to look directly at her, still hiding behind his damp, dirty hair.
    “Oh…you cannot speak.” She sighed and looked up. “How can you kill him now? He cannot even tell a soul that he saw you with me, Louis.”
    The man she called Louis knelt down as well. “Just because he says he cannot speak doesn’t mean he cannot speak,” the man muttered. “Look at me, boy, and do it now or I will have you killed and be done with it.”
    He looked—he did not want to die, and somehow he understood this man could have him killed.
    So he looked. And something about the face he saw startled him—
    The man called Louis sucked in a harsh breath and then looked at his lady.
    “Well. Perhaps I could have killed him before I looked at him, but it will be harder now. He shares my face, Françoise. Do you see?”  
    Abruptly, there was a shout, followed by a scream. The guards came, hustling the lady and the man to the carriage. The woman—Françoise—she reached out and caught his thin arm. “You come too. You have faced enough thieves and bandits this day. Let the guards handle this.”
    Louis gave her a disapproving frown.
    “What? Would you have this boy with your face be slaughtered?”
    There was another scream from the guards, and something about it made the skin on the boy’s neck crawl.
    What came out of the woods were men—or at least they looked like men. But they moved too fast. And they were too strong. The boy had never seen a man who could rip the arms off another man, but that was what one did. The men who guarded Louis and his lady Françoise were being cut down like animals.
    One of the bandits…no, this was no bandit. That…that thing looked toward them and as he stared into the thing’s eyes, his gut turned to water.
    Evil…he was staring into the very eyes of evil. There was nothing human in those eyes. Nothing …
    Without understanding why, he gathered the shadows and used his darkness, spreading it across the clearing.
    Françoise screamed.
    Knowing he needed to see, the boy eased back and rested a hand on her knee, and one on Louis as well. The darkness eased for them and he saw the shock on their faces. He flinched, prepared himself for what they would say, what they would think, what they would do.
    But Françoise gazed at him in wonder.
    “Louis, did you see? What he can do?”
    “Françoise, be quiet,” Louis said, sweat breaking out on his brow. He looked at the boy, his mouth set in a grim line. “If you truly know how to fight, then you should prepare yourself.”
    He swallowed and