All Chapters of Trust In Love: A Love Mark Romance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Trust in LoveCopyright © 2020 by Linda KageSmashwords EditionThis is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses or establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.All rights reserved. No part of this book—except in the case of brief quotations in reviews—may be used, reproduced, or translated without written permission of the author.Contact Information: linda@lindakage.comPublishing HistoryLinda Kage, May 2020CreditsCover Artist: Kage CoversEditor: Summer at Red Pen RevolutionProofreader: Shelley at 2 Book Lovers ReviewsProofreader: Judy at Judy’s Proofreading Created with Vellum

I’d witnessed the birthing process enough from growing up in the brothel where my mother had worked to know the queen’s babe would be here soon.Low, distressed moans and heightened murmurs of encouragement filtered from her royal bedchamber and out into the corridor, echoing down the hall to me like shards of haunting memories that pelted me with visions better left forgotten.Pain and blood, and too often death, mixed in with the new breath of life; I’d seen it all. I knew exactly what was happening in that room.Biting my bottom lip, I stole an inconspicuous glance around the corner and watched the assortment of men gathered outside her door, waiting for news, men who knew nothing about the process transpiring on the other side of that portal.Among the ignorant, the king sat gruffly in a padded chair that someone had brought for him as he glared at the chamber’s entrance and impatiently rolled his signet ring around his pinkie. Even in the middle of the night, he wore his gold

Half an hour later, I sat atop the horse I’d borrowed from the royal guards’ stable with my fingers tapping impatiently against the saddle horn while I waited at the opening of the courtyard for the two knights who were being forced to accompany me.Honestly, I didn’t want anyone else to tag along. They’d only slow me down, and I didn’t exactly trust my father’s servants. Aside from Sable, everyone in this damn castle seemed corrupt.But only royal knights had enough authorization to access the stockroom and gather all the supplies we would need for our journey. So I’d have to devise a way to steal their provisions and lose them on the road. Hopefully this very night.The courtyard was dark, and the torches slotted into their sconces on the walls cast more shadows than actual illumination. When a single figure meandered into the clearing on foot from a side passage as if lost, a feeling of distinct unease crawled up the back of my neck.Who the hell was this? I very much doubted th

Half an hour later, I stepped into the dining hall with my usual trepidation.Five years had passed, but I’d never forgotten how I’d seen my own brother Caulder—dead with a sword wound in his back—laid upon the long table in here. Or my cousin Soren, who’d been disemboweled ten feet away for killing Caulder. Or Yasmin—Vienne’s sister—whom I’d murdered, turning to dust with magic power, not but minutes after Soren’s demise.Sometimes, I still woke in a cold sweat, breathing hard and trembling, just remembering that one horrible hour that had transpired in this very room.Tonight, however, it was full of lights and music and the merry, mingled voices of my closest loved ones.“Nicolette! Nicolette!” Five-year-old Anniston ran up to me, grinning wildly. “Look what I got in the village at the celebration today. Isn’t it beautiful?”She touched the pink floral wreath she wore on her head and beamed with pride as she twirled in a circle before me, making her lavender skirts float in a c

“Damnation,” I muttered, setting my hands on my hips and turning in a slow, aggravated circle as I scanned the trees.But where the hell was that secret entrance?I knew I’d been blindfolded when the princess had led me from the castle and out here into the forest five years back, but I’d seen her and her guard disappear into the trees somewhere in this general vicinity just a few hours ago to return to the castle. It had to be nearby. Somewhere. And I should’ve been able to locate it by now.Except I couldn’t. This was one aggravatingly well-hidden passageway.If I’d been smart, I would’ve snatched her earlier. Except I would’ve had to take out her protector in the process, which I could’ve done with no hardship. I just hadn’t felt like killing anyone today. And besides, I’d been certain I could simply follow them back inside through their handy secret tunnel that I knew existed under the moat and then take her the first moment she was alone.Like she was now.Except I couldn’t