Banished by Kimberley Griffiths Little EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Kimberley Griffiths Little
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
A dirty, callused hand slapped down over my mouth and the stale breath of
a man hissed in my ear. “Don’t move or I’ll slit your pretty little neck.”
I clawed at the stranger’s cloak, trying to push him off, but he was too
heavy. A moment later, I realized my ankles were tied together. I couldn’t
run, couldn’t even move. Shrieks gurgled in my throat as if I was drowning,
his hand cutting off my air.
Last evening’s fire was nearly extinct and a cold, wretched moon shone
a pillar of silver across the hollow I’d nestled myself into. This was my last
night in the hills of Mari before I headed into the desert with my camel.
Only one day into my journey to find Kadesh and I was already dead.
The sharp tip of a blade pressed against my neck, and I whimpered.
I’d planned to be gone by dawn. Leave behind the city of Mari, and
Sahmril, my baby sister who was lost to me when her adoptive parents
refused to give her back. The promise I’d made to my mother to keep her
safe was broken.
“Give me the frankincense of the stranger we killed.” The man’s foul
breath dragged across my face. He was referring to Kadesh, the boy I loved,
who’d been murdered by Horeb, the prince of my tribe. I’d watched Horeb
plunge his sword into Kadesh and then order his soldiers to drag his body
off.
Shock flooded me when I realized who my attacker was. I wrenched his
fingers away from my mouth and with a raw voice said, “Gad? What are
you doing lurking about the cliffs of Mari?”
This man was a childhood friend of Horeb’s and one of my own
tribesmen. His body pressed against mine, and I writhed in disgust.
There was only one reason Gad was in the foothills of Mari, far from
the oasis of Tadmur where my tribe camped for the summer. He was a
member of Horeb’s army.
Horeb, my betrothed. The man who’d attacked and scarred me.
Blackmailed me for the murder of his father to hide the fact that he’d killed
Abimelech so he could steal the tribal crown. He thought the kingship gave
him the right to murder Kadesh—because Kadesh had stolen me away.
Horeb was the boy I knew as a child, ran foot races with, fought with stick
swords, and tended baby camels with.
He was now the king of the Nephish tribe, and he’d been hunting me for
weeks. If he found me he’d either kill me or lock me up in chains as his
wife. Guarded by soldiers so I wouldn’t slit my own wrists.
Nausea rose up my throat as Gad’s beard grazed my cheek. He smelled
vile and filthy. “Tell me where the frankincense is,” he murmured, his hand
hovering over my face. “If you refuse, I’ll shove my dagger into your heart
—then strip you naked to find the nuggets myself.”
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