Soul of Kandrith (The Kandrith Series) by Luiken Nicole

Author:Luiken, Nicole [Luiken, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2013-03-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Sara dropped a carafe. It shattered on the stone floor of the temple stillroom, splashing her sandalled feet with mercia. Her toes promptly went numb.

The acolyte of Loma, an older woman with a round face, scolded her and set her to cleaning up the mess. Sara obediently mopped up the syrup-like potion with old rags and picked up the shards of broken pottery, but she nicked her fingers twice because her mind kept wandering.

She kept thinking about Lance, replaying memories of how his face had looked and the soft way he’d kissed her lips when he bid her goodbye.

He wasn’t here and wouldn’t visit for another nine days, so why was she spending all her time thinking about him? Why did doing so make her throat ache and her eyes burn?

The acolyte stopped fussing over the loss of the precious potion and patted her shoulder. “The first days are hard. You miss your man, I know.”

Was that it? Yes. She missed Lance. Though she had suggested their separation, it felt strange and wrong.

“Perhaps we should find a different task for you,” the acolyte mused. She smoothed back a wisp of gray hair that had escaped her kerchief and looked around.

The stillroom of the Temple of Mercy where the precious mercia potion was distilled from plants was equipped with a large table, a fireplace and shelves. Dried plants hung in bundles from the ceiling, sweetening the air. The temple itself was unprepossessing compared to the ornate, gilded temples Sara had visited in Temborium.

Since Lance couldn’t safely enter Tolium until the search for the governor’s escaped slaves died down, Willem had escorted Sara to the temple. He’d asked the elderly priestess that Sara be cared for and given light work because of her pregnancy.

The acolyte set her to hanging wet laundry next. Sara repeated the same mindless movements, her thoughts still focused on Lance.

She didn’t like being separated from him. How long would she have to tolerate it? Lance had said he would think of something, but he would be busy training the ex-slaves. What if he couldn’t come up with a solution?

The thought that they might have to endure a long separation only to have the baby still die, soulless, at the end raised an unfamiliar emotion in her chest. Something hot and angry and...and resentful. Maybe she should just rejoin him and let nature take its course.

But then she thought of how the baby’s death would affect Lance. It would make him sad. Wound him, in some way beyond the physical.

And Sara didn’t like the idea of Lance feeling bad because she— Because he was important.

She should try to help him.

Yes. As soon as the thought occurred to her Sara knew it was the right decision. She set her mind to solving the problem of her soullessness while her body went through the motions of hanging laundry.

Reach into the basket and pull out a wet dress.

The Goddess of Mercy had said that new souls were created from a magic wrought by all the gods and goddesses at the beginning of time.

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