by Jake Ozga
Magda read the invitation. It was just as her mother said, but that only raised more questions. ‘But why?’
‘When good things happen, accept them,’ Inge advised her. ‘Count Wulfsige is one of the wealthiest men in Ravensbach. Can you imagine the spread he’ll have!’ She glanced back at the kitchen and frowned. ‘At least for one night there won’t be squab stew and beans. We’ll eat like ladies and lords should.’
‘The invitation only says to bring the family,’ Magda said, reading the page. ‘There’s no mention of how many. Do you think it would be all right to ask Klueger to come?’
Inge sighed in exasperation. ‘That man is beneath you,’ she said. ‘You’re a beautiful girl. You can do much better than him.’
Colour rushed into Magda’s cheeks. First the old argument with her father, now the ongoing one with her mother. ‘I don’t care about better. I love Klueger.’
‘Love.’ Inge tutted and shook her head. ‘How long do you think that will last? The man’s prospects are limited. What kind of advancement does he have with those Sigmarite priests?’ She looked at the room around them and frowned. ‘Even the best of them couldn’t afford this. You’d be stepping down, not up.’
‘We aren’t having this discussion,’ Magda stated.
‘I’m only looking out for what is best for you,’ Inge replied. ‘You’re still young. You could have any man you turned your attention to. I don’t want you to waste your opportunities the way I did.’
Magda’s hands curled into fists at her sides. Before she could think, the words were spoken. ‘I’m not sure you wasted any opportunity, mother.’
Inge’s eyes went wide with shock. She snatched the invitation from Magda’s hand with such force that it sliced her palm. ‘The messenger said to bring my family,’ she said as she turned and walked back into the kitchen. ‘That man is not part of my family, and he never will be.’
Magda stared after her mother as the tin strings fell back into place. She truly regretted the horrible thing she had said. She knew her mother loved her deeply and was only trying to do what she thought was best. The problem was that what was smart wasn’t always what was right. Magda trusted her feelings more than her mother’s strategising.
Blood dripped from the cut on Magda’s hand. She glanced down at it and the now ruined glove. More than her injury, she was thinking about the invitation.
They never did decide why Count Wulfsige should ask them to dinner at the castle.
Click here to buy Castle of Blood.
Warhammer horror
A Black Library Publication Imprint
This eBook edition published in 2019 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.
Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.
Skull Throne © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2019. Skull Throne, Warhammer Horror, GW, Games Workshop, Black Library, The Horus Heresy, The Horus Heresy Eye logo, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world.
All Rights Reserved.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-78999-236-6
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
See Warhammer Horror on the internet at
blacklibrary.com
Find out more about Games Workshop and the worlds of Warhammer at
games-workshop.com
eBook license
This license is made between:
Games Workshop Limited t/a Black Library, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, United Kingdom (“Black Library”); and
(2) the purchaser of an e-book product from Black Library website (“You/you/Your/your”)
(jointly, “the parties”)
These are the terms and conditions that apply when you purchase an e-book (“e-book”) from Black Library. The parties agree that in consideration of the fee paid by you, Black Library grants you a license to use the e-book on the following terms:
* 1. Black Library grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to use the e-book in the following ways:
o 1.1 to store the e-book on any number of electronic devices and/or storage media (including, by way of example only, personal computers, e-book readers, mobile phones, portable hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs or DVDs) which are personally owned by you;
o 1.2 to access the e-book using an appropriate electronic device and/or through any appropriate storage media; and
* 2. For the avoidance of doubt, you are ONLY licensed to use the e-book as described in paragraph 1 above. You may NOT use or store the e-book in any other way. If you do, Black Library shall be entitled to terminate this license.
* 3. Further to the general restriction at paragraph 2, Black Library shall be entitled to terminate this license in the event that you use or store the e-book (or any part of it) in any way not expressly licensed. This includes (but is by no means limited to) the following circumstances:
o 3.1 you provide the e-book to any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;
o 3.2 you make the e-book available on bit-torrent sites, or are otherwise complicit in ‘seeding’ or sharing the e-book with any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;
o 3.3 you print and distribute hard copies of the e-book to any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;
o 3.4 you attempt to reverse engineer, bypass, alter, amend, remove or otherwise make any change to any copy protection technology which may be applied to the e-book.
* 4. By purchasing an e-book, you agree for the purposes of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 that Black Library may commence the service (of provision of the e-book to you) prior to your ordinary cancellation period coming to an end, and that by purchasing an e-book, your cancellation rights shall end immediately upon receipt of the e-book.
* 5. You acknowledge that all copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights in the e-book are, shall remain, the sole property of Black Library.
* 6. On termination of this license, howsoever effected, you shall immediately and permanently delete all copies of the e-book from your computers and storage media, and shall destroy all hard copies of the e-book which you have derived from the e-book.
* 7. Black Library shall be entitled to amend these terms and conditions from time to time by written notice to you.
* 8. These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law, and shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of the Courts in England and Wales.
* 9. If any part of this license is illegal, or becomes illegal as a result of any change in the law, then that part shall be deleted, and replaced with wording that is as close to the original meaning as possible without being illegal.
* 10. Any failure by Black Library to exercise its rights under this license for whatever reason shall not be in any way deemed to be a waiver of its rights, and in particular, Black Library reserves the right at all times to terminate this license in the event that you breach clause 2 or clause 3.
lter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
