02 - Fire by Kristin Cashore

Author:Kristin Cashore
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE YEAR FIRE spent training her father to experience things that didn’t exist was also, thankfully, the year her relationship with Archer found a new happiness.

Cansrel hadn’t minded experiencing non-existent things, for it was a time when existing things depressed him. Nax had been his conduit to all pleasures, and Nax was gone. Brigan grew more influential and had escaped another attack uninjured. It was some relief for Cansrel to feel sun on his skin in the midst of weeks of drizzle, or taste monster meat when it was not being served. There was solace in the touch of his daughter’s mind - now that she knew better than to turn flames into flowers.

On her side of things, Fire’s body suffered; she lost her appetite, grew thin, had attacks of dizziness, got cramps in her neck and shoulders that made playing music painful and brought on splitting headaches.

She avoided contemplation of the thing she was thinking of doing. She was certain that if she looked at it Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

straight on she’d lose control of herself.

Archer was not, in fact, the only person that year to bring her comfort. A young woman named Liddy, sweet and hazel-eyed, was the maid of Fire’s bedrooms. She came upon Fire one spring day curled on the bed, fighting off a whirling panic. Liddy liked her mild young lady, and was sorry at her distress. She sat beside Fire and stroked her hair, at Fire’s forehead and behind her ears, against her neck, and down to the small of her back. The touch was kindly meant, and the deepest and tenderest comfort in the world. Fire found herself resting her head in Liddy’s lap while Liddy continued stroking. It was a gift, offered unjealously, and Fire accepted it.

That day, from that moment, something quiet grew between them. An alliance. They brushed each other’s hair sometimes, helped each other dress and undress. They stole time together, whispering, like little girls who’ve discovered a soul mate.

Some things could not happen in Cansrel’s proximity without Cansrel knowing; monsters knew things.

Cansrel began to complain about Liddy. He did not like her, he did not like the time they spent together.

Finally he lost patience and arranged a marriage for Liddy, sending her away to an estate beyond the town.

Fire was breathless, astounded, and heartbroken. Certainly she was glad that he’d merely sent Liddy away, not killed her or taken her into his own bed to teach her a lesson. But still, it was a bitter and selfish cruelty. It did not make her merciful.

Perhaps her lonesomeness after Liddy prepared her for Archer, though Liddy and Archer were manifestly different.

During that spring and into the summer she turned fifteen, Archer knew what mad thing Fire was contemplating. He knew why she couldn’t eat and why her body suffered. It tormented him, took him out of his mind with fear for her. He fought with her about it; he fought with Brocker, who was also worried but who nonetheless refused to interfere.

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