Moon Dancer (Beneath the Thirteen Moons) by Kathryne Kennedy

Author:Kathryne Kennedy [Kennedy, Kathryne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: AKK, LLC
Published: 2017-08-10T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

A hush fell over the crowd as the dancer moved onto the stage, a ‘ka in each hand, the razor-sharp edges of the bone instruments glittering with deadly malice. The veils covering her face added to the woman’s mystery and aura. Gloved hands shimmered with the fine scales of the rainbow fish, her forehead glowed with strings of blue pearls, her arms and legs flashed from the bands of woven, diamond shark skin encircling them.

Only Tarov Jin’nidea noted the sudden trembling in the proud stance the dancer affected. She could just manage to see the stage from her tiny window. She worked at the ropes that tied her hands, making her wrists burn. She had woken but moments ago, found the moons illuminating the night, realized she’d slept the night and day away. She knew Dolph was busy with all the tasks of the performance, but still she hoped he would come looking for her. Even with the veils, surely he would realize Henel had taken the stage, not Tarov. But he might not even be watching, busy reassuring the usual nerves of the dancers backstage. Lack of confidence could be deadly.

The pain at her wrists and ankles flared from her struggles, and Tarov finally slumped back against her pillow. She looked out the window in frustration, wishing for a bit of zabbaroot, which might give her the strength to escape.

Dolph had told her he’d spread the word of a thirteenth-level dancer who managed to master the bones fit for an audience for the king, and a larger crowd than usual gathered outside in hopes of catching the first glimpse of the new performance. Tarov felt a whisper of pride at the crowded wharf where the dancers’ flotilla had docked, at the people filling the limbs of the huge sea trees, all of them waiting patiently, just to watch Tarov’s performance.

But the audience wouldn’t be watching her, but Henel Madera, and until Henel finished the dance, only the two of them would know it.

The thought made Tarov’s stomach clench and her lips clamp shut. She’d endured betrayal after betrayal, and something snapped inside of her. She should scream for help, retrieve her stolen ‘ka, and expose Henel for the fraud she was.

But it was already too late, for Henel started to spin the ropes, a hesitant sound issuing from the air streaming through the holes in the bones.

The dancer finally moved the ‘ka in a simple pattern. She held the instruments carefully away from her body, slowly twisted and spun them until the beginnings of a true melody flowed through the holes of the bones. Not exactly what the crowd expected of the best moon dancer in the Forest, and Henel must have sensed the restlessness of her audience. She indignantly pulled the ‘ka closer to her body to execute the Pattern of the Octopus.

Tarov nodded. A good place to begin, and a dance Henel always excelled in.

As the dancer’s confidence grew, she executed a more complex pattern,

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