Sherdan's Prophecy
Page 39
Chapter 39
Sherdan couldn't say how long he had cried over Anya's letter. The whole evening passed in a blur of re-reading the same painful words and trying to get Anne to leave him alone and go home. Now and then, the tears gave way to angry outbursts, when he cursed Anya for coming to see him in the first place.
She had left her kitten behind and the sight of the abandoned gift only pained him more. Anne had the good sense to take the poor thing with her when she finally went back to her own family.
He had completely lost his desire for food and ignored everything he was offered. He considered getting a bottle of brandy but knew if he started drinking today he would go too far. There was also a small part of him that wanted to feel the pain he had in his heart, the deep ache of longing to see Anya's face again.
Sherdan wandered aimlessly about the house; first in her room, staring at its emptiness, then in his study, gazing at the screens he had first watched her on. All of it felt like daggers twisting in his core, and knowing Hitchin had been taken from the country made it all the worse.
In times like this his friend would have sat with him, reassuring him with words from his visions, stopping him from being alone in the dark.
The documents Miss Miller had given him had lain forgotten on his desk since he got back. He remembered them and picked them up. If Hitchin couldn't be there in person, perhaps reading his words would lessen some of the loss he felt.
He knew the second vision was in the leather-bound journal he had seen Hitchin fetch recently but Sherdan felt more curious about the typed documents. He flicked through the pages, checking the dates. There appeared to be an entry for each day and, as far as Sherdan could tell, it appeared a more thorough diary than the hand-written one.
Sherdan frowned, puzzled about why Hitchin would keep two, vastly different diaries. He stopped flicking through the pages when he reached mid-December in the previously unseen version and started skim-reading.
As he read, he grew more and more stunned. The day after Anya arrived, Hitchin had written at length about her, despite Sherdan having not yet said the intruder was a woman. Hitchin had met her. He had been in the lab she had run into when she had been breaking in.
Sherdan's jaw dropped open as he continued to read.
I knew then Sherdan would develop a crush on her and I am going to need to keep an eye on them both. I won't let Sherdan's fascination with the opposite sex put our plans in jeopardy.
He couldn't read on for a moment, overwhelmed by what he saw. After a pause, Sherdan skim-read through until Christmas when Anya was mentioned again.
I sat with Sherdan a lot today. His talk of Miss Price has me very concerned. She should be treated like any other security risk but he has her locked in one of his bedrooms. He is a fool for thinking she will be safe there. The only way to save him from ruin is to break her. The guards were close and Sherdan will have to finish the job. I have already told him I think another vision is on the way.
I know if I convince him it is meant to be, that he will force her to give him a child and have her completely submissive to his every will. He will just need pushing in the right direction, and the brilliant thing is, it was Sherdan himself who gave me the idea. The guards who interrogated her told me only yesterday that they thought he had stopped the interrogation to take over himself. He had said as much over the radio.
Once I have thought about all the details I will tell Sherdan he is meant to have her and he will do everything else for me. Maybe one day I will tell him the truth, but not until the next female has taken his fancy. For now this project is more important.
Sherdan couldn't read any further. He felt sick at the implications of what Hitchin had written. He had almost done exactly what Hitchin had expected him to, and only Anya herself had seen through it. No wonder she had left him.
The country they had been planning may well have achieved all its goals, but at what price? The damage they had done – he had done – to an innocent girl just because of the paranoid worries of one man. Even if the vision had been true, he realised he hadn't deserved her.
It had crossed his mind that evening on several occasions to demand Anya return to him but he could no longer do that. She was better off without him and far from his country.
He put his head in his hands and wept. Anya wasn't meant to be by his side, and now he'd found the person he'd always thought would be there had been against him. Sherdan really was alone in the dark.
~
Thank you for reading the first book in the Sherdan series, Sherdan's Prophecy. If you enjoyed this story and would like to read more you can find the second, Sherdan's Legacy, here. If you would like to subscribe to the new release email to be notified when my next book is available you can do so here. For a complete list of all works by the author, separated by genre, please continue. If you have enjoyed the book you just read and would like to let the author know you can email her via books@jessmountifield.co.uk or alternatively leave a review at your place of purchase.
Books by Jess Mountifield
Already published
Historical Adventure:
With Proud Humility (#1 in the Hearts of the Seas series)
Chains of Freedom (#4 in the Hearts of the Seas series)
Fantasy (Tales of Ethanar):
Wandering to Belong (Tale 1)
Innocent Hearts (Tale 2 & 3)
For Such a Time as This (Tale 4)
A Fire's Sacrifice (Tale 5)
The Hope of Winter (A short story in the anthology 'Flights of Fantasy' - Tale 6.05)
Sci-Fi:
Sherdan's Prophecy (#1 in the Sherdan series)
Sherdan's Legacy (#2 in the Sherdan series)
Sherdan's Country (#3 in the Sherdan series)
Sherdan's Road (A short story in the anthology 'The End of the Road')
The Slave Who'd Never Been Kissed (A novella in the anthology 'The Kiss')
Find Purchase links here
Coming soon
Historical Adventure:
Victorious Ruin (#2 in the Hearts of the Seas series)
Fantasy (Tales of Ethanar):
The Fire of Winter (#1 in the Winter series, Tale 6.1)
The Tales of Ethanar anthology - containing:
The Tales of Ethanar 1-6.05
A Brief History of Ethanar
Maps of Ethanar
A Note on Dragons
A Note on the Humanoid Races of Ethanar
Fantasy (other):
Angel of the Sands
Books under Amelia Price
Already published
The Hundred Year Wait (#1 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)
The Boy Next Door (A short story in the anthology 'The Bitten')
The Unexpected Coincidence (#2 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)
The Invisible Amateur (#3 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)
Coming soon
The Female Charm (#4 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)
About the Author
Jess was born in the quaint village of Woodbridge in the UK, has spent some of her childhood in the States and now resides in the beautiful Roman city of Bath. She lives with her husband, Phil, and her very dapsy cat, Pleaides.
During her still relatively short life Jess has displayed an innate curiosity for learning new things and has, therefore, studied many subjects, from maths and the sciences, to history and drama. Jess now works full time as a writer, incorporating many of the subjects she has an interest in within her plots and characters.
When she's not working she can often be found with friends, enjoying a vast array of films, ice skating or trekking all over the English countryside.
You can find out more about the author and her upcoming projects by following her on twitter or her fanpage on facebook or at her blog www.jessmountifield.co.uk
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