Adored (Thrice Blessed Book 2) Read online

  Adored

  Book Two in the Thrice Blessed Trilogy

  By Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright 2014 Kirsten Osbourne

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Ultimate evil is coming, and Eva knows her magic is needed for the fight. Saving the world was always going to be hard, but with Normans taking over everything she knows, it's only getting harder. The last thing she needs is to fall in love with a Norman peasant turned warrior.

  Hugh once believed that magic was evil, and he hesitates over his feelings for Eva. Her magic, and her status as a member of the nobility, put her out of his reach. How can he ever ask her to marry a peasant? But if he doesn't, how will he keep her safe from the evil stalking her?

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  1054

  Prologue

  Christiana sat up in her bed with her back against the wall. The lights were out for the night,and she and her sisters, Eva and Marina, were supposed to be sleeping. She concentrated hard and thought, “Eva, make a dragon come down out of the ceiling.”

  In her head she heard, very faintly, “Look up.” It was so much harder to hear other people’s thoughts than it was to send her thoughts to them. She’d had to learn to think quieter to her sisters, because she gave them headaches when she thought too loudly. She always had to strain to hear them in her head, though. They were working on talking louder to her.

  Christiana turned her gaze to the ceiling and smiled. There was a huge purple dragon swooping down at them by the light of the single candle Marina held.

  “Dragons aren’t supposed to be purple!” Marina complained. She was annoyed that Christiana and Ea were practicing their powers, and she couldn’t. She had the power to heal, but no one was hurt, so she couldn’t practice for fun like her sisters did. She wanted to practice, too. It wasn't fair.

  Eva made a face, but kept concentrating so the image wouldn’t dissolve. “I don’t care. Purple dragons are pretty and not scary. I don’t want any scary dragons in here.” She folded her arms over her chest, absolutely refusing to make her dragon scary.

  Marina pouted. “I want to practice my powers.” It wasn't fair that both of her sisters got fun powers, and she only had the boring power of healing. What fun things could they do with that?

  Eva let the dragon dissolve and turned on Marina, the youngest of the three sisters although only by a few minutes. “What do you want us to do? I could hit Christiana on the head with a rock, and then you could practice.” She glared. “It’s not our fault you got the boring power of healing. Mama says it will be the most useful someday, but what does she know?”

  Christiana, older than Eva by fifteen minutes, said, “You two need to stop fighting. We’re stronger when we’re together, remember?” She repeated the words her mother had told them over and over. They were stronger together.

  The other two nodded reluctantly. It was hard to have to work together to practice their powers every day. They were only six, and there were so many more important things they could be doing. Why this very minute, they could be sneaking out to the stables to play with the new foal.

  “I wish I could heal someone,” Marina complained. She loved when she got to use her power. She would feel the magic flow from her fingertips and into whomever needed to be healed. Nothing else made her feel so powerful.

  Christiana sighed and reached for a small knife she’d stolen from the kitchen and tucked under her pillow. She ran the knife blade over her thumb to cut herself. Marina had wanted to practice ever since they’d discovered her power to heal just weeks before. Christiana had decided she could let her sister practice on her if she felt she needed to practice that badly.

  A small stream of blood fell off the side of her thumb and onto the floor. “There, now you have something to practice on.” She held her hand out to her sister.

  “Oh, Christiana!” Marina flew from her bed and knelt beside her sister. “You weren’t supposed to cut yourself. I would never want you to do that on purpose.” She placed her hand over her sister’s thumb and watched as the cut closed itself, and the blood stopped running off her finger. “There, it’s healed. Now don’t do that again!” She enjoyed healing, but not enough to let her sister hurt herself. She got along much better with Christiana than she did Eva. She always had.

  Christiana sucked the last of the blood off her thumb. “It’s all better now. It didn’t hurt that much." She offered the knife to Eva, holding out the handle instead of the blade. “You try it.” She knew they should both take turns hurting themselves, so Marina could practice healing them.

  Eva shook her head frantically. “I don’t like blood!” She held out her hand, which suddenly looked as if it had been crushed by a large rock. It was deformed with fingers barely attached and all of them crooked and grotesque. Fresh blood covered her hand. “Practice on this!”

  Marina growled. “I’m a real healer, not a healer of pretend injuries!” How dare Eva act as if her powers were nothing?

  Christiana shook her head at her younger sisters. “Why do you two fight so much? Be nice!” She emphasized her words by pushing the thoughts into their heads as well.

  “I’m sorry,” Marina said, hanging her head. “I don’t mean to fight.”

  Eva stopped her illusion and her hand returned to normal. “I’m sorry, too.” She looked contrite as she said the words, obviously feeling badly about fighting with Marina again.

  Christiana put the knife back under her pillow where no one would find it. “We should go to sleep. Nurse will be in to check on us in a minute.” She reached her mind out to their elderly nurse to see what she was doing. “She’s finishing up her tart and is on her way!”

  Marina blew out the candle and hid it under her bed. All three girls scrambled under their covers and closed their eyes tightly, as if they’d been sleeping.

  The door opened and closed again softly.

  “Did we fool her?” Marina asked Christiana mentally. She could communicate telepathically only with Christiana, but it was useful anyway, because Christiana could then answer and if needed, pass her thoughts on to Eva for her.

  “We fooled her,” Christiana told both of them at the same time, so she wouldn’t have to answer the same question from Eva. “Good night, sweet sisters.”

  Christiana sank back against her pillows as her thoughts were returned. She was the luckiest girl alive to have two such wonderful sisters. Even if they did fight all the time.

  1066

  Chapter One

  Eva sat at the supper table with her father, Robert, two sisters, Christiana and Marina, her brother-in-law, Roland, and his two trusted men, Hugh and Charles. They had been able to save her sister, Christiana, just that afternoon from a force of evil. Where the ultimate evil was coming from, she and her sisters didn’t really know, but they understood the legend that had been passed down in their family, saying there was a source of evil and the three sisters born at the same time would be the ones with the powers to stop the evil. They’d passed round one, but each of them knew the “master” was still out there ready to hurt them all.

  The man sent to take her eldest sister Christiana was a fire-starter and had burned her badly. Without the powe
rs of the three sisters used together, she would be dead. Eva still shuddered to think about what could have happened and wondered what the next test would be.

  Robert was clearly happy. He was thrilled Christiana had married Roland, a strong, handsome Norman who had come to conquer her and force her to be his bride, but had instead showed her love like she had never seen. Robert raised his glass in a toast, and lowered it after, looking around the table at each of his three beautiful daughters.

  Eva and Hugh had strong feelings for one another, and she was hoping for a marriage proposal any day. Surely he would offer her father for her hand in marriage within a fortnight. He was as in love with her as she was with him, and it was obvious in everything he did. Finding love in the men who had come to conquer them was surprising, but Eva couldn’t be happier. She had always firmly believed that no matter who someone was, at the core they were a person, capable of good or evil.

  Everything about Hugh shouted nobility to her. He was a kind, caring, gentle man who showed his love for her in everything he did. The fates were surely smiling down at her on the day she was born, or she’d never have found a man as precious as her Hugh.

  Robert had a huge smile on his face when he asked, “When will there be more weddings in this old house?” Robert was well aware that a new home for them all was being built very close in the form of a castle. And while the idea of a castle was nice, he wanted his daughters married in the home they’d grown up in, and no one could really blame him.

  Eva’s eyes went to Hugh’s with a smile, hoping he’d take the opportunity to ask her to be his wife. There was nothing in the world she wanted more than marrying the large dark warrior who had come with the conquering army.

  Hugh stood, shaking his head. “I could never marry Eva. She is too good for me.” He strode from the room as if nothing mattered to him more than getting away from her.

  Eva didn’t hear or see anything that happened after that. When she felt the tears prick her eyes, she projected an illusion of serenity to the room, hoping no one would realize that her heart had just been broken in two. Her sisters would know, of course, but she didn't want her father to know, and she certainly didn't want Roland or Charles to know and carry tales back to Hugh.

  She thought they’d worked out the matter of his birth. Eva didn’t care that he’d been born a peasant and was only in their home because he’d saved Roland’s life as a child. Class distinctions had never really mattered to her family, and even less to her than the others.

  She thought all men should be judged on their own merits and not on the circumstances of their births. She would go talk to Hugh again, and he would understand that it didn’t matter, she decided. After supper, she and Hugh would talk and fall into one another’s arms kissing as they always did, and maybe tonight would be the night of his marriage proposal after all. Eva loved Hugh more than she’d ever imagined it was possible to love someone who wasn’t one of her sisters.

  Eva was the middle daughter of Robert and Eadwynn, who had died many years before. Eadwynn had been the descendant of druids and had always known her life was meant to be different than those around her. Eva and her two sisters were triplets, born just minutes apart, and each of them had a power from their druid ancestors.

  Christiana, the oldest, had the ability to talk to the others in her mind. She had done it since they were small girls, but just recently her powers had been so enhanced it felt as if she was always yelling in the others’ minds.

  Marina, the youngest, had been born with the power to heal others. Her powers hadn’t manifested until the three of them were six, but their mother had made it clear to them all that Marina’s powers would someday be the most important of all. She had healed many people over the years but had been unable to heal their mother in childbirth, something she couldn’t seem to forgive herself for.

  Eva had been born with the power of illusion. She could make things appear out of nowhere, but they weren’t things that could be touched or heard. She hoped that as the years went by, her powers would be enhanced like Christiana’s had been, but she had no way of knowing when or how such a thing could happen.

  Eva waited until everyone was finished eating before standing up to go talk to Hugh. She wasn’t sure where he was, but she needed to find him, and make sure he understood she loved him no matter what his background was.

  She wandered the halls for a moment to see if she could find him, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She finally decided she didn’t care if it was the right thing for a young unmarried lady to do, she was going to his room to see if she could find him so they could talk. Only people who cared about them were in the house, so what did it matter anyway?

  She stopped outside his room and knocked twice, quietly waiting for him to answer. “Enter!” His voice was deep and gruff. He sounded like he was just as upset as she was.

  She pushed open the door and stepped into the room, quietly closing it behind her. Hugh was lying on his bed without his shirt or anything covering his bareness. Eva stared transfixed having rarely seen a man without a shirt in her life, and she found Hugh’s muscles well-toned and sexy. She wanted to walk to him and touch the dark covering of hair there. How would he react if she moved her fingers through his chest hair?

  As soon as Hugh saw her, he sat up straight in bed. “What are you doing here? Did anyone see you come in?” He walked to the door and peered out into the hallway. “No one’s there. Go quickly!” He wouldn't hurt her reputation for anything.

  Eva walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed instead. “I came here to speak with you and I’m not leaving until I’ve done so.” How could he think she'd risk sneaking into his room, and then just leave before she'd said what she needed to say?

  Hugh sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re being stubborn, wench. Someone will know you are here, and it will ruin your reputation.” He couldn't force her to go, though. In their short time together, he'd learned that this woman couldn't be forced to do anything she didn't want to do. He wasn't certain yet if it was a point in her favor or against her.

  “I care naught for my reputation. You are the man I love, and you say you’re not good enough for me. That’s what I care about.” Eva moved to the head of the bed and leaned back against the headboard, patting the spot beside her so she could talk with him. “Join me.”

  Hugh shook his head. “I will not. I cannot let you make yourself unmarriageable.” How could she ask him that? She knew he felt too strongly for her to be near her and not touch her. She was tempting him too far.

  Eva noted that his eyes looked frightened, almost as if he were a deer with a hunter pointing an arrow at him. “You know I do not care at all that you were born a peasant, yet you still claim you are not good enough for me. I will not accept that answer from you, Hugh. How could I marry another man when it’s only your kisses I want?” She kept her voice calm and reasonable as she asked the question. She wanted to rage at him and hit him and scream, but she knew it would do no good.

  Hugh sighed heavily. “There’s a man for you, but it’s not me. You need a man who was born to the nobility, not just raised in it because he saved another child when he was a boy. You need someone who’s of your class. You don’t need me.” His eyes met hers for the first time. “You should go, Eva, before someone discovers you’re in here with me.” His greatest fear was someone would realize how close they'd become, and her chances at a real marriage with a man of her class would be ruined forever.

  Eva shook her head, feeling bolder than she’d ever felt. Hugh was the only man she’d ever felt comfortable with in her life. She could touch him and kiss him and not worry like she did with other men. She couldn’t let him go. She just couldn’t! “No, Hugh. You are the man that was put on this earth just for me, and I refuse to marry another. I’ll spend the rest of my life as a spinster before I’ll marry another man.” Eva got off his bed and walked to him, putting her hands on his shoulders and kissing him softly on the l
ips. “Dream of me,” she whispered as she sashayed from the room.

  *****

  Hugh watched Eva go, half afraid. What would he do if she wouldn’t back off? She made his heart sing and his body hard as a rock. How could he do anything if she wouldn’t agree to leave him alone?

  He so badly wanted her to understand why she was too good for him. If she couldn’t understand it, her feelings would be hurt, and he had no desire to ever hurt Eva. He couldn’t give into her, though. How could he marry her and condemn her to a life below her true station? How could he turn her into just a soldier’s wife instead of a rich baron’s daughter? He wouldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t do that to her. He loved her too much.

  He’d have to talk to Roland on the morrow. There was no other alternative. Maybe Roland would allow him to go off with Charles to join King William in London. If Charles served the king well, he would be given land. Maybe Hugh could serve him instead of Roland. He didn't feel the same loyalty toward Charles that he did toward Roland, but he would make do. He would do whatever he needed to do to keep his Eva pure for the man she was meant to marry.

  He hated the idea. He and Roland had been the closest of companions since they were just boys and he felt it was his sworn duty to protect his friend. How could he allow him to come to harm by not being there with him constantly?

  *****

  Early the following morn, Hugh met with Roland. “I must beg a favor of you.” He didn't know how to broach the topic with Roland, but he knew he needed to.

  Roland eyed him skeptically. “I’d say, ‘Anything for my friend,' but there’s something in your eye that tells me it’s not the right thing to say to you."

  Hugh was much darker in coloring than his blond-haired blue-eyed Norman friend. He was also a few inches shorter, though considered tall for his people. “I want to be allowed to leave for a time. Charles wants to seek his fortune in London with the king, and I would like to be allowed to join him.” Hugh’s brown eyes met Roland’s.