Blood and Shadow (The Mage's Gift Book 1) by Lythgoe Robin

Author:Lythgoe, Robin [Lythgoe, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2016-12-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 41

A woman came every day after that to tend to Sherakai’s hands. On the third day she removed the bandages. They healed well, leaving only delicate red seams that would fade in time. In her basket, she carried herbs for headaches as well, and tried to persuade him to take a tincture. He didn’t trust anyone in this place and declined. He’d rather live with the horrendous throb in his skull than drink their poison. She looked at the tray of gruel and toast, hardly touched, but didn’t comment. He did not tell her how sick he felt. She probably guessed.

“Where is my sister Mimeru?” he asked her. She wore fine clothes and her hands were soft. She was no mere maid and, since she didn’t use magic on him, he thought she was likely not a Gifted healer, either. In spite of sharpish features, she had a pleasant face. Hair the color of Mimeru's peeked from beneath a blue kerchief, and she had exotic eyes the color of lavender blossoms.

“In her rooms.”

“May I see her?”

She did not respond, but took his jaw in cool fingers and held him to study his eyes. She laid the back of her hand against his forehead, checked his pulse, then looked at the bruises on his neck.

“What is your name?” he asked, studying her features. The structure reminded him of Bairith, but more fragile, more otherworldly.

“Rest today,” she said on the first day, ignoring the question. And, “It would do you good to exercise,” she said on the second.

On the third, he changed his tactics from polite to assertive. “I want to see my sister. Take me to her, please.” His father’s—or Bairith’s—ability to command with his Voice would have come in handy. The woman only regarded him with something between curiosity and melancholy.

“The master wants you to break your fast with him today.”

One of the creatures rose and disappeared into the bathing room. Whatever it did in there brought a sound like falling water.

“And if I do not?” Sherakai asked, glancing after it.

She put her things away in her basket. “You will.”

“What do you mean? He’ll send his thugs to drag me to the dining room?”

She looked meaningfully at the demon sitting at the foot of the bed. It offered a toothy grin. Did it understand the exchange?

“You will attend him on your own or you will do so under constraint. That is your choice. You will find he can be a generous host.”

Surely she knew how ridiculous that sounded.

“What did he do to me?” he demanded, holding up his hands. “The other night when he cut me and—and—”

“He bound the creatures to you. They will keep you safe.”

Bound them to him. Revulsion turned his stomach. Bairith had tied pieces of him to… to those things. He folded his arms, hands protected. “Safe,” he echoed. “I was safe at Tanoshi Keep. Are you insane?” Truly, he should not have asked that. It was rude and it might alienate the woman when he needed all the allies he could get.

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