I make the Ancient One’s star sign over her heart. “There,” I emphatically state. “Protected.”
Some of the fear in her eyes softens. Snuggling back in with her, I shake off my own edge of apprehension and stroke Clover’s messy hair, drawing comfort from being close to my sisters. My own room is next door, but we often gravitate toward being with each other, especially on stormy nights like this.
And we’ll always be together, I remind myself, a glimmer of relief passing through me as I remember Father’s plans for all three of us. And maybe Tobias Vasillis will be as nice as Rafe and have his same lovely, emerald eyes. Perhaps he’ll carve me a small bird, like Rafe once did, and tell me funny stories.
The storm rages and the darkness presses in around us, but I focus on these bolstering thoughts as the little white birds bob overhead, gently lulling me to sleep.
Copyright © 2018 by Laurie Forest
ISBN-13: 9781488030505
The Iron Flower
Copyright © 2018 by Laurie Forest
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
The Iron Flower Page 58