Read Salome at Sunrise for Free Online

stop your path. I simply wish to bring peace to your soul…before the end.”
    This Bryton could accept. He knew his goal, accepted the only way to ease the ache that never left his heart. His family, Taric, his men, none understood how hard he’d struggled to find other ways. The pain, the guilt, weighed more than a castle stone.
    The most important battle of his life and he’d failed. He’d failed his child. He’d failed his bride. He’d failed himself. There was no absolution. He’d have fallen on his own sword had honor allowed it. Instead, he’d thrown caution and safety to the wind, taking every dangerous and deadly position he could. Still, he was stuck in this mortal plane, bound by chains of misery and grief.
    If it comforted those left behind to think they tried, then he could give them that small relief. He only wished there were a way he could slough off the anguish. A part of him wished with all his strength that Salome and her magic could restore him. But wishes were for children and he was long grown.
    “That type of peace, I will accept.”
    “Then we have a beginning.” Her smile eclipsed the moon.
     
    Salome watched, nestled in the branches of an oak tree. The camp slept, except for the one guard sitting by the fire. He’d feed bits of wood to the blaze then make a slow trek around the grounds every quarter hour. Sixteen trips and he woke his fellow guard, who began the process anew. Bryton slept fitfully, his eyes snapping open at the beginning of every circle. His sword lay under his blanket, on the bedroll with him. Her owl’s wingtips quivered with the desire to stroke his brow and soothe him into deeper slumber.
    She’d chosen her moment to reveal herself to him with great care. She’d studied him, learning his mannerisms and familiarizing herself with his emotions. Turmoil and tension hardened every muscle in his frame, never letting his soul rest. With each moment in this world, her magic wove deeper into her essence, deeper in tune with him. His unease vibrated under her skin, churned in her blood, knotted her belly. Pain and remorse weighed down on his shoulders and her back bowed. The slice of his blade had surprised her but it did not touch the agony in his soul.
    Why? What fueled his devotion to this wife he could not see? Why did he spark something in her that made her want to reach out to him, to run her hand down his cheek or shake him until his brains rattled? The hard pads of his fingers attested to his time handling a sword yet he’d gently wrapped her bleeding flesh as if she were a brittle leaf that might crumple with a breath. The song in her magic grew a new melody, an undercurrent of strange and haunting longing she did not recognize. It had not changed until he touched her. What would it sound like if his hand lingered?
    Bryton rolled, his eyes open, staring at the star-strewn sky. His steady rising chest belied the thunder of his heartbeat but Salome heard it clearly. He turned his head, his gaze locking with hers. Heat arced between them, not the scorch of summer or the sting of fire but a low, brewing storm that gathered strength and power. One wing twitched and she blinked. No clouds darkened the night sky but a primal tempest was coming. It would not sway the trees, it would not feed the earth. It would affect only the two of them, and the outcome would sizzle with the kiss of lightning.
     
    Taric’s arm lay heavy on her hip but Myla’s mind was weighted with far more than the slumber-relaxed muscle. Blue-white moonlight streamed through the open window, sending a river of light along the chamber floor. Memories drifted along that moon-drenched brook, memories that had once given her joy. Now they spiked fear in her breast.
    “Will you attend me, Sir Bryton?” The formal way she’d spoken had straightened his back. With a curt nod, he’d approached and stood before her.
    “King Balic gave me his life as I gave mine to Taric. But you pledged your life and