Seduced (Thrice Blessed Book 3)

  Seduced

  Thrice Blessed Book 3

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Unlimited Dreams

  Contents

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  Introduction

  Marina has spent her entire life knowing that her power to heal would someday be required to save the world. When England is invaded by William the Conqueror, and her entire life changes, the other threat is still there and waiting for her. As her sisters find love amidst their own private battle with evil, Marina knows love that overwhelms her for the brother of her eldest sister, but he’s made it clear that he will not marry her.

  Charles wants nothing more than to get his life in order and receive some of the land his liege, King William, is handing out to his followers. Having his own land means the freedom to marry the lady he loves. Pretty Marina is the only woman he can think about, but he won’t feel truly worthy of her until he can provide a home for her. Will Charles realize that leaving will make him lose the love of a good woman? Or are the two of them destined to live their lives apart?

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  Book Three in the Thrice Blessed Trilogy

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright © 2017 Kirsten Osbourne

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  Prologue

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  Marina walked along with her sisters and their mother who was smiling down at them, telling them again the story her mother had told her when she was a child. The story was filled with the old gods and goddesses of their land and the evil that had come from them. When their mother reached the part of the story where she talked about the woman who would have three daughters at once, Marina’s eldest sister, Christiana said, “That’s us! We’re the three daughters at once, Mama!”

  Their mama, Eadwynn, smiled down at Christiana. “You are! And you each have your powers.”

  Eva, the middle daughter shook her head. “Not Marina. I think she’s defective.” She whispered the last words loudly enough for Marina to hear her.

  Christiana spoke to Marina in her head. “Don’t get upset, sister. That’s what she wants. Stay calm and pretend it doesn’t bother you.”

  “Thank you. She makes me sad when she says things like that. I’m not defective.” Marina pushed the thoughts back at her sister with her mind. She could only do that with her oldest sister, because it was part of her sister’s power. Not hers. Her mother told her every day that her power would be the most important of them all, but she couldn’t tell her what that power would be. She hated being the youngest and not having a power from the time she could walk like her sisters did.

  “Mama said to tell you your power will be the best,” Christiana said through her mind again.

  Eadwynn pulled Marina to her side as they walked, not paying attention to the things in her path. She stumbled over a tree root and fell, catching herself on her left hand. Immediately, she cradled her wrist to her chest, knowing it was broken. She had to hide her pain from her daughters.

  “Christiana, call your father with your mind. My wrist is broken.” Eadwynn kept her voice calm, even as she wanted to scream in pain. She couldn’t let her daughters see how bad it was, though.

  Marina knelt beside her mother, wishing she could take her pain away. She put her hand over her mother’s wrist, wishing her pain would leave her. Her eyes grew wide. It was if something magical was coming out of her fingertips. She closed her eyes and concentrated as she drew the pain from her mother into herself. It hurt only briefly and then suddenly it was gone.

  She stumbled to her feet, feeling dizzy. “Mama’s fixed,” she whispered as she crumpled to the ground at her sisters’ feet.

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  Marina sat on the edge of her mother’s bed, her hand over her swollen stomach. Her mother moaned loudly, and Marina had to block her out. She had to concentrate on healing her mother and the child within her. She’d never done a healing that mattered as much to her as this one did, and she was frightened beyond her wildest imagination.

  Christiana and Eva each had a hand on Marina’s shoulder. They were only twelve, but they had followed their mother’s direction and become skilled in using their powers to help those around them. Marina had never had to work so hard to heal someone. Usually, if the healing was too difficult, she did it a little at a time, with her sisters lending her their power. Their mother didn’t have the luxury of time, though. The babe inside her was killing her.

  Marina’s voice was soft as she said, “Can you give me more power, sisters? We’re going to lose her!” She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and couldn’t hold them in. With all the lives they’d saved, they had to be able to save the one who had given them life!

  Eadwynn turned her head, touching Marina’s cheek softly. “Do not waste your power on me. My life is ending, but you girls…” She took a deep breath. “You must save yourselves, so you may save our world.”

  Marina shook her head, drawing up every ounce of power she had, knowing she couldn’t hold out much longer. “Give me as much as you can spare!” she said, her voice a mere whisper. She couldn’t bear the thought of not having her sweet mother there every day to love her and teach her. No one understood her like her mama did. Not even her sisters.

  Marina felt the last of her energy flowing out of her fingertips just before she collapsed, falling to the floor, and banging her head against the wall. Eva and Christiana exchanged a quick, confused look before they too fell. Joan, who had been assisting the midwife, cried out as the girls fell. She was their nurse and had been since they were born. When she saw how pale Marina was, she called for help.

  Eadwynn looked at Joan. “Help the girls. I no longer matter.” She closed her eyes and prayed silently that her girls would live. They had a purpose. She had fulfilled hers by giving birth to them and teaching them to use their powers as best she could. She’d known from the time she was a child that her purpose in life was to give birth to the three of them. Now that her purpose was done, and she’d helped them understand their destiny, she could go to be with God. Joan looked torn for a moment, but finally she hurried to help the girls. She knew her mistress was right. The girls had to be the priority. There was no other choice.

  The girls were taken into their former nursery and laid in their beds. It was the best place to care for all three of them. Joan had seen them exhaust themselves with their powers before, but never all at once. She quickly ordered the other servants to help her see to the triplets.

  The girls were unconscious for four days. Joan kept them alive by spooning broth into their mouths. She only slept for short spells as she cared for her sweet charges. They’d been in her care since their birth, and she alone knew the full story of what they were meant to do. She couldn’t allow them to die, for she knew it would be risking the entire world.

  News
trickled into the sickroom as servants ran in and out with more food for the girls and nourishment for Joan as well. Their mother died within minutes of Marina removing her hands from her, and the whole household mourned. The baby boy she carried was stillborn, and the two were buried together.

  Lord Robert, the girls’ father, paced in the hall outside the girls’ sickroom, wondering if he would lose his entire family.

  When the girls finally woke, he hurried into the room to see them. He hugged them all, sadly sharing the news of their mother’s death. He then did the one thing they would never be able to agree with. He forbade them to use their powers. “I’m afraid without your mother here to smooth things over, you will be taken for witches,” he explained calmly. He didn’t add that he couldn’t bear to ever again see them put their own lives in danger for another. He’d already lost his wife and son. He couldn’t bear to lose his daughters. They were the most precious things left in his life. He left the room, closing the door softly behind him after giving his order.

  The girls looked at one another. Christiana was the first to speak. “We’ll have to practice in secret, of course. Our powers are needed to save the world.”

  Chapter One

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  Marina was tired of being cooped up in the manor. She wanted to go for a walk in the woods and feel the wind blowing through her hair. She wanted to be able to run free and feel the grass beneath her feet. Why were her sisters so content to stay inside?

  “Christiana! Let’s go for a walk in the woods. I’m sure Hugh would accompany us, and he would keep us safe. Please.” Hugh was her sister, Eva’s, husband. He was a good man and, in Marina’s eyes, their jailor.

  Christiana slowly shook her head. “Roland says it’s not safe for us to leave with only one man to protect us. We’ll need the entire army, and the men have been so busy with the building of the castle, there’s just no time. No, sister, we need to stay here and work on our powers.”

  Marina frowned. What Christiana really meant is that Marina needed to work on her powers. Her sisters’ powers had both gone through a transformation in the past month that truly astounded all three of them. Their powers had become tenfold what they’d once been, but Marina’s power was still the same as ever.

  Yes, the power of healing was an awesome power, one she was proud to call her own, but she still needed help from her sisters if she did more than five or six small healings in a day. Her sisters would put their hands against her back and push their power into her, but she wanted to be able to heal on her own.

  Since the Normans had taken over their home, and her sisters, Marina’s power had been given more chance to expand and grow. She was thankful for the opportunity, but she still wished she was more powerful. She hated being the weakest sister. It was bad enough just being the youngest.

  Eva took Marina’s hand in hers. “I’m sorry you miss the outdoors so much, sister. We all do if that helps at all.”

  “It doesn’t, of course! How could it?” Marina smiled at her sister, trying to soften her harsh words. “I just hate sitting here doing nothing when we know he’s out there, planning something evil. And this time, he’s coming for me!” She didn’t have to tell them who she referred to. All three sisters knew she was talking about the evil sorcerer whose minions called him “the master.” He was the man who had tried to kidnap both Christiana and Eva. She only wished she knew his name.

  Christiana jumped to her feet. “Time for stairs, I think. After the stairs, we’ll have Roland send in the line of peasants he has waiting.”

  Marina looked at Christiana. “Any challenging injuries today?”

  Christiana shrugged. “I didn’t ask. He just said the line was longer than ever.”

  “I want to heal the first eight without help!” Marina had never done that many at once, but she loved the idea of challenging herself.

  “That depends on how bad the injuries are, sister. We can’t have you exhausting yourself.”

  Eva winked at Christiana. “Charles will want you in good condition.”

  Marina made a face. “Charles barely acknowledges me. I’m done with him.” Charles was the younger brother of Roland, Christiana’s husband. The first moment she’d seen him, Marina had felt a stirring within her she’d never expected to feel for a man. Now both of her sisters were married to two of the men who had come to conquer them, and Marina was—not.

  Christiana shook her head at Eva, sending her a mental warning. “I know you are. Who needs a big Norman fool, anyway?” She led the way into the hallway, nodding at Hugh, Eva’s husband, who had been assigned to guard them that day. “Good morning, my brother.”

  Hugh flushed, as he always did when addressed by one of the sisters other than Eva. “Good morning, Christiana. Are you doing your morning exercises?”

  Christiana nodded. “Twenty flights of stairs this morning.”

  Marina groaned. “Save some of my energy for healing the peasants!” She enjoyed physical activity when it had a purpose. Running up and down the stairs had no purpose other than exhausting her.

  Christiana laughed. “You’ll have plenty!”

  Twenty minutes later, the three sisters sat on Christiana’s bed, all breathing heavily. Marina had a cramp in one of her calves she was trying to rub out. “Why do we keep torturing ourselves? It would be so much easier just to run through the woods like we used to.”

  “Don’t start that again, Marina. We’re obeying my husband.” Christiana’s tone of voice made it clear she wasn’t going to listen to even another minute of Marina’s complaining.

  Eva jumped to her feet. “Let me see if we can get some peasants sent in for you to heal.” She was out of the room before either of her sisters could protest.

  Christiana laughed. “I’ll ask Roland about peasants to heal. Eva just wanted to go kiss her husband.”

  Marina shook her head. “Her lips must be sore by now. I swear all those two ever do is kiss!”

  Christiana grinned. “I have a feeling they’re doing a bit more than kissing these days.” She closed her eyes to talk to her husband in her mind. She didn’t have to close them, but it helped her to concentrate on the conversation and not on the people around her. “Roland? Marina is going crazy being cooped inside all the time. Either send us a more difficult healing or let us run through the woods to get some exercise!”

  Roland’s words came back to her. “One of the camp followers has the whore’s rot and needs to be healed. I haven’t sent her in, because I didn’t want her around ladies, but she’s very ill. Will you help her?”

  Immediately Christiana wondered if her husband had ever made use of the camp follower, but she decided she didn’t want to know. “Send her up.” She looked at Marina. “Roland is sending up a camp follower who is dying of whore’s rot. I told him we’d help her. Do you want aid?”

  Marina wrinkled her nose. Of course she would help the woman, but she didn’t like the idea of having to touch her. “Let me look at her and let you know. If I can heal her myself, I think I should.”

  “Of course,” Christiana answered with a nod.

  The door opened then. Eva was holding the door for Charles who had a woman slung over one shoulder. He set her on a hard, wooden chair, rather than on the bed like he usually would.

  The woman seemed to be out of her mind with fever. Marina nodded to Charles, wishing he would leave. Every time she was around him—several times per day—she was overcome with emotion. He made her heart beat faster, and if he touched her, then she would tingle where he touched. She didn’t like feeling that way when he touched her.

  Charles backed to the corner of the room, carefully keeping his eyes off Marina. He had a hard time being in a room with her. His feelings were strong— stronger than he cared to admit—but he had nothing to offer her. No, he would go off to London to seek his fortune by offering his sword to the newly crowned King William. He knew there were still many lands up for grabs to the knights who gave the king their continued suppor
t.

  Once he had been granted land of his own, he would come back for his Marina, and they would begin their lives together. If she couldn’t wait for him for a few years, then she wasn’t worthy of his love.

  Marina approached the sick woman with her hands raised. She carefully assessed the camp follower’s injuries while questioning her to keep the woman’s mind off what she was doing. “What’s your name?” she asked softly. The woman’s mouth seemed to take up more than half of her face, and her teeth were much too large. She could not be considered pretty by anyone’s standards.

  “What’s it to you?” the woman asked, her accent heavy.

  “Nothing, I suppose,” Marina responded. “I just thought you would be more comfortable if we weren’t strangers to one another.”

  “Bethanie.” She eyed Marina’s hands which were held above her body. “Now you know my name, will you use your witch’s tricks to kill me?” Her breathing was labored, and her heart beat too quickly, but she was obviously wary of Marina.

  “I do not know witch’s tricks,” Marina responded softly. “I have the power of healing, and I use it only for good.” She was used to the question, so she didn’t take offense. She looked over her shoulder. “I need some help from one of you.”

  Eva had not yet gotten comfortable since visiting Hugh in the hallway, so she put her hand on her younger sister’s back and pushed her power into her. The three of them had shared power often since they were children, but it seemed to Marina that she was more often the recipient of her sister’s power than they ever had been of hers.

  Marina worked quickly. It wasn’t a complicated healing, but a month before it would have been impossible for all three of them together. Now, she just needed a bit of power from one of her sisters. The ease with which they shared their power with her made her feel as if she was lacking.