But … exceedingly pleasant.
Other Service members walked around them, glancing down with concern, but Brook smiled and waved them off, letting them know the situation was well in hand.
“You heard all that?” she asked.
“Some of it. You are a frightening woman, Miss Pendlebury.”
Yet he held her. His feelings for her were the same.
“You shouldn’t know such things about me.”
“Why not? You know everything about me at any given moment. No one can hide aught from a Reader, or so I’ve been told. Several times.”
“Did your talent bring you here?” she asked.
“No, that would be Sybil. She popped in just as Mrs. Woodwake was asking where the devil you’d gotten to. Sybil suggested that I look for you here and wait outside. She was adamant that I not interrupt.”
“For all you knew I was killing Andrina.”
“The Seer’s name is Sybil, not Cassandra. If Colonel Mourne takes what she says seriously, then so will I. Now, I won’t say I wasn’t worried, but it was your family matter to settle, not mine.” She felt his disquiet, but it flared and vanished.
“I said some terrible things.”
“You were provoked. She stole something irreplaceable and cut short an innocent life. In the end you took the right path. I don’t know that I’d have been as wise or restrained.”
“Families,” she groaned. “They can be quite dreadful.”
“Or your best refuge.”
“Not that one. This is my family, my home. The Service isn’t perfect, but I can be myself here. They understand me. But the days to come … I’ll have to make arrangements, somehow speak to my uncle and aunt, then go through Father’s letters.…”
“Mr. Fingate will help. So will I. So will James. You won’t be alone.”
“It will still be awful.”
“And it can wait,” he said firmly. “Put it from your mind, at least for now.”
“Pendleburys. Damn the Pendleburys. I’d change my name if I could.”
“Indeed?”
The blazing soaring uplift of spirit in him was unmistakable: hope.
And yet …
His warmth surged. Enveloping her.
She floated on it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
P. N. “Pat” Elrod is the author of twenty-four commercially published novels, more than twenty short stories, and an editor and coeditor of several story collections. Aside from this, she loves her dogs Sasha and Megan, Doctor Who, Buffy, and Stargate SG-1. You can sign up for email updates here.
EDITED BY P. N. ELROD
Dark and Stormy Knights
Strange Brew
My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon
Hex Appeal
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Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
About the Author
Edited by P. N. Elrod
Copyright
THE HANGED MAN
Copyright © 2015 by Patricia Elrod
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Larry Rostant
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2971-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-4664-3 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781429946643
First Edition: May 2015