Heart of Stars by Kate Forsyth

Author:Kate Forsyth [Forsyth, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General, magic, Fantasy, witches, Horses
ISBN: 9781741668469
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2007-01-01T01:42:47+00:00

Iseult lay in her bed, her eyes shut, tears oozing under her red, swollen lids. Although it was morning, her room was dim, for the curtains were pulled tight across the windows. The air smelt of rotting flowers.

Iseult’s grief was like a giant boulder that lay on her chest, pinning her down. All her energy was taken in just breathing. She did not want to thrust the boulder away, because to do so would be to lose all that she had left of Lachlan. Instead she hugged the boulder to her, allowing it to press her down, crushing her ribs, her lungs and heart, her stomach. It hurt even to roll over, to find a dry spot on her pillow in which to press her aching eyes. So she lay as still as she could, and let the hours and the days slip past in a daze that was not quite sleeping, not quite swooning, not quite living.

She heard someone rap on the door to her sitting room, and then heard the low murmur of voices as her lady-in-waiting answered. Iseult did not open her eyes. She had given strict instructions that she was not to be disturbed, not by anyone.

‘Resting?’ a familiar voice roared. ‘What do ye mean she’s resting? Wake her up.’

Iseult pressed her hands over her eyes. Go away, Father, she thought.

There was the soft murmur of her lady-in-waiting’s protest, and then the door slammed open. Light flooded into the bedchamber. Iseult moaned and covered her eyes with her hands.

With a few quick strides, her father was standing by her bed. He was a tall, strong man, with red-grey hair tied back with a leather thong, and two thick curling horns that marked him as a Khan’cohban, one of the Children of the Gods of White. His dark, aquiline face was slashed on both cheeks and forehead with seven white lines that matched the two thin scars on Iseult’s cheeks.

‘Iseult, get up!’ he commanded.

‘Leave me be,’ she moaned, and turned her face away.

‘I will no’! Iseult, ye must get up.’

‘Why?’ she wept. ‘Why must I?’

He sat down beside her and took her hands in his. ‘Iseult, do ye want to lie sleeping for sixteen years, like your mother did? Lie sleeping, and leave your children to suffer and struggle and shift for themselves, as ye and Beau had to?’

‘My children are gone!’ she spat. ‘Have ye no’ heard. Gone!’

‘Then why are ye no’ out searching for them?’ he demanded.

She turned to glance at him. ‘What’s the use?’ she whispered. ‘Lachlan is dead, my babies have all been stolen away, they mean to kill them too. What’s the use in anything?’

‘Ye may be able to stop them,’ Khan’gharad said.

She raised one hand and let it drop. ‘How? I have no power, no authority. I’m no’ the Banrìgh any more. Maya’s daughter has seized that title with the throne. I am no’ a witch, or a warrior, or anything any more.’

‘Ye’re still a Scarred Warrior,’ he said, tracing the scar on either cheek.

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