Soulswift by Megan Bannen

Author:Megan Bannen [Bannen, Megan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062674203
Google: q_XQDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0062674188
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: 2020-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven

There’s a soulswift waiting for Tavik at the last stop on Ambrus’s map, a farm called Illesmaat—the family name, Illes, plus the Old Rosvanian word for freehold, maat. Whatever the message says pulls down on the corners of Tavik’s mouth.

“Are you going to read it to me?” I press him.

“It’s just the usual,” he mutters, but the usual appears to be something that makes Tavik increasingly uneasy each time he hears from his captain. He’s so distracted by the contents of DeRopa’s tiny missive that he fails to notice the very pretty girl who lives at Illesmaat with her mother and father and two older brothers.

Mera is petite and has thick honey-colored hair, and is the picture of femininity when contrasted with my towering, knight-garbed form. Ten years in a convent didn’t equip me to interact with a normal girl like her, and my mouth feels as if it’s been glued shut. I keep thinking of the new Daughters back at Saint Vinnica, what a disaster I made of that, and they weren’t even normal like this girl. What am I supposed to say to her? How am I supposed to act? Making matters worse is the fact that she hasn’t taken her eyes off Tavik since we arrived. It’s irritating, even if I was guilty of the same thing when I first met him. He’s just a boy, for the love of the Father.

Tavik crumples the message in his fist, spreads out Ambrus’s map on a long dining table, and asks Illes, “Where is Gulachen?” in Rosvanian.

“Here.” Illes points to a place in southest Rosvania.

“The Kantari army has made it all the way to Gulachen?” I ask in alarm.

Tavik nods.

“Your people have been battling their way northeast for weeks, but no one can figure out where they’re going or why. Where are they going?” Illes asks.

Tavik and I look at each other over the table, and an unspoken question bubbles up between us, one I can’t believe we haven’t asked ourselves until now: If Tavik sent word to DeRopa that he has the Vessel containing Elath’s soul and that we’re on the move, why are the Kantari still trying to reach the Convent of Saint Vinnica?

“Is the Goodson still on the Kings Road?” Tavik asks Illes, redirecting the conversation, but I’m determined to discuss the movements of the Kantari army with him the next chance I get, especially since something in DeRopa’s message clearly has him rattled.

In the meantime, Illes is shaking his head in answer to Tavik’s second question. “The Milk Road lost the Goodson at Juprachen. The only thing I can tell you is that he’s no longer heading west, at least, not on the Kings Road, and he doesn’t appear to have taken any of the major trade routes running out of the city either.”

I snap to attention. “Is he still in Juprachen?”

“Possibly, but if he is, he doesn’t seem to be staying at any of the religious houses, so I think it unlikely.”

Tavik nudges my elbow, and I fill him in as my finger brushes over the map until it lands on Juprachen.

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