The hunt for Ella Bandita began with the women. They raged with each new tale about the notorious seductress, these women who spent their lives caring for their beauty and enhancing their manners to appeal to the most desirable men in society. Wives and courtesans worked hard for their pampered...
The pictures that passed through his mind were mute. But the Wanderer understood what happened, as well as the reason his grandfather had propelled him into those haunting dreams. The Patron found his daughter at the river. Her cheeks were pale and her fingers trembled, pressed deeply into her th...
But she didn’t mind. The numbness guarded her against the turn of backs on her approach and the heavy air of rooms gone quiet wherever she went. Nothing could touch her until one early spring morning when that unseen cloak was stripped away. That day started like any other. She bore her grooming ...
When the Wanderer woke up in the morning, he was relieved to find his tent undisturbed. He heard the girl moving around the site, but doubted she was in a better humor. He lay inside his tent until the grating of metal on metal irritated him enough to get up. When he came outside, he was blinded ...