She Who Rides the Storm by Caitlin Sangster

Author:Caitlin Sangster
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

The Veil

Lia walked through the dry market as quickly as she dared. Past heaps of crusty fish and jeweled craycrabs and little furred mockturtles, their sea coats slippery with salt. When she got to the bridge, she could still feel Knox there behind her, a shadow at the corner of her vision that slipped away when she turned to look. It wasn’t until she’d gotten to the guard’s blind spot on the wall around her father’s house that he finally strolled into view.

Lia put her back to the wall. Her eyes wanted to slide off him, but she held them firm. Knox didn’t attack, keeping his distance as he looked her over, a rangy, scrappy version of her friend who’d left her with more questions than breath to say them. His hair had grown out to make a blunt ponytail at the nape of his neck, his cheekbones had hollowed, and his skin was a milk tea color that said he’d been spending less time outside.

“You come for me now?” she whispered. “You should have done it a year ago.”

“You left me first.” He shook his head, as if he wanted to pull the words back. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not here for you. I saw Vivi at the governor’s house and heard you were missing, and I was worried.… Why are you here?”

Lia pressed her lips together tight, then turned to face the wall and began to climb. “Come inside.”

Why was she here? That question was much better than what Lia had been expecting—no questions and a knife in her back. Knox had left without so much as a goodbye… but he was right. She had gone first, though it hadn’t been her choice. Lia clenched her eyes shut for a moment, then resumed climbing with a violent burst, not wanting to remember the day she’d left Knox—not that he’d ever needed her as much as she’d needed him.

She’d been sitting outside Vivi’s stall one morning, feeding him bits of dried meat, when Knox had come to tell her Master Pel wanted to see both of them. It had been a year or more since she’d made the third oath, Lia’s family a scab that still bled when she prodded at it, though being allowed out into the Commonwealth to hunt Basists and scare province officials helped.

She still remembered the exact way Knox had wrinkled his nose as she put the rest of Vivi’s treats on her palm and held them up over her head for the auroshe, Vivi’s long teeth catching in her curls as he gobbled the meat.

They walked together to the masters’ hall. Master Pel was waiting for them with a lumpy armful of stained fabric. White that had long gone gray.

“Weapons and leathers off.” She waited patiently as Knox and Lia stripped off their swords and outer armor, Lia’s fingers moving slowly, as if she could stave off what she knew would come next.

Knox put a hand on her shoulder when Master Pel turned away to put their swords under her desk.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.