Kindred and Wings by Philippa Ballantine

Author:Philippa Ballantine [Ballantine, Philippa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781616147808
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2013-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Three nights the royal mistress waited, all nerves and lack of sleep. The Caisah did not call for her and the darkness was not her friend. Kelanim sat on the wide edge of the window and looked out over the sleeping city. Perilous and Fair was always at its best when under the gentle ministrations of night; the strange silvery writing and the undulating drawings that were carved on every wall and roof gleamed with moonlight. Only the Vaerli—and perhaps Kelanim’s love—knew what they meant.

They also made her think of the strange writing on the old looking piece of vellum that the centaur had her slip beneath the Caisah’s pillows. She twined one lock of her long, thick red hair about her finger and tried to hold back the rush of fear that suddenly filled her belly. The beast had said it would allow him to become human and mortal again. She herself had heard him wail and complain about how he hated his immortality, how it was driving him mad . . . so she could not have done a bad thing.

The cool night breeze slipped in through the window and scampered over her skin. The delicious tug of it over her breasts pulled a little gasp from her throat. It, in turn, made her think of him. Wriggling slightly, Kelanim pulled up the hem of her night robe. It was very plain, and nothing like she would wear for him. It was made for comfort, not for seduction.

She was just about to retire to her narrow bed, when movement caught her eye. White in the dark sky, a flicker of the thin moon on a shape fluttering down toward the conical outline of the Chapel of Wings.

Wings. Kelanim sat up straight, suddenly more awake than she had been for hours. The chapel of the Swoop had been sealed up when they had proved disloyal. Their loss had sent the Caisah into a rage only matched by the one he had when the Hunter had been lost to him.

Surely the Swoop would not come back now. That would be suicide for certain. Another possibility hit her. The Named. Many of them could fly. Gathering her robes around herself, Kelanim slipped from the windowsill and to her door.

Easing it open a fraction, she was glad that she always kept the hinges so well oiled. Out in the corridor, all was quiet. The faint smell of rosewater lingered, so that meant the servants had been past recently. Every night the harem was sprinkled with the cloying water, thought to bring peace and beauty. To Kelanim it only smelled of desperation.

Her perfume was of lilacs and cinnamon, a concoction that the Caisah had expressed an affinity for. Thinking of him still made the mistress’ heart beat a little faster. If one of the Named had come to Perilous, then she would be the one that they wanted to speak to. She paused only long enough to take her dark cloak off the hook behind the door and slip it on.

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