Facing the Gray by Carol Beth Anderson

Author:Carol Beth Anderson [Anderson, Carol Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949384017
Publisher: Eliana Press
Published: 2018-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

SARTIA: One of our posts was attacked. Two of our guards were killed before the others ran off the intruders.

RELIN: Two men? And you woke me to tell me this?

SARTIA: The arrows used to kill them were ours. And that’s not all that’s missing from our armory.

-From Relin: A Play in Three Acts by Hestina Arlo

Konner walked through the tunnel in a crouch. That worked for about two minutes, at which point his back ached too much to continue. He dropped to his knees and crawled.

Right hand and knee. Left hand and knee. Move the lantern. Repeat. He got into a rhythm and let his mind wander.

When Tavi and Tullen escaped two nights earlier, Konner had been so angry, he’d woken every servant in the house with his ravings. He hadn’t even been able to see what direction they’d gone. By the time Konner had managed to stand after Tavi had kicked him, his captives were long gone, thanks to Tullen’s gifted feet.

How in the world had Tavi blocked his bullet? And what else could she do with such a gift? Konner wanted—needed—her as part of the Grays. But after all that had happened at the farmhouse and his house, he didn’t think she would ever willingly join them. If they caught Tavi again, could they pry open her mouth and force her to steal the last breath of a Blessed? And if they did, would it work, or was she required to kill under her own volition to achieve a gray awakening?

Konner didn’t know, and he cursed himself and Ash for not being more meticulous with their original gray magic experiments. Why had their tests focused only on method and not intent?

He had to get Tavi back. But finding her might be difficult. Konner couldn’t bring himself to tell the Grays about his most recent experience with her. He’d been so angry and embarrassed that he’d stayed in his bedroom the whole next day, drinking too much and nursing his sore groin. He knew such a reaction was weak, but now he was ready to put that behind him and find the girl.

Konner reached the end of the tunnel and stood up in the vertical shaft. He stretched, sighing with relief as his muscles relaxed from their cramped positions. Then he looked down and saw a small hole in the left knee of his pants. He cursed.

He found Wrey in the house’s sitting room. “Get Aldin and Camalyn for me,” he instructed her. She left the room.

Camalyn arrived first. She didn’t live at the house, but Konner had sent word to her the night before, asking her to meet him. “Blessed be the First Midwife,” Konner told her with a smirk.

She laughed and returned the greeting before sitting and smoothing the satin skirt of her purple dress. The outfit had nothing in common with the modest garb she wore in public as a Karite. Konner guessed she’d arrived with her voluminous, shapeless Karite garb over the lovely dress. She longed for the day when she could again go out in public looking her best.

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