The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams

Author:Jen Williams [Williams, Jen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2015-02-25T23:00:00+00:00

40

Frith awoke with a start to find Joah kneeling over him, one hand resting on his forehead. He’d been dreaming about his time at Whittenfarne, and the many long conversations he’d had with O’rin, the god of lies. He pulled himself back towards the wall away from Joah’s touch, all the while mindful of Gwiddion, concealed in the blankets at the foot of the bed.

‘What are you doing?’ He felt ill again, and shakier even than when he’d fallen sleep.

‘Just looking,’ said Joah. He didn’t seem perturbed by the way Frith was scowling at him. ‘Searching through the rest of your memories. It really is quite fascinating.’

‘You performed a crossing? But I felt nothing!’

‘It gets easier,’ said Joah dismissively. ‘The more often I do it, the wider the path. And you were very deeply asleep. I saw a woman in your memories, Aaron. A woman with red hair and a dagger at her hip. She seems to have been in your thoughts a great deal.’

‘A sell-sword,’ said Frith. ‘A woman I have travelled with recently. I paid her to help me retrieve the information I needed from the Citadel in Krete.’

‘Aaron, it is clear that she is more than that to you,’ Joah said softly, ‘and it does us no good to become attached to people such as her. She will be nothing to what we will eventually achieve. What we will eventually be. Such attachments are a distraction and I will not tolerate them.’

‘Tolerate?’ Frith clenched his fists. ‘How dare you . . .’

Joah held up a hand, and Frith felt his entire body freeze solid, as though he were suddenly stuck in amber.

‘And there is another woman. This woman . . . she has long dark hair, and wears silks and satin, and elaborate fancies of gold and diamonds. I see her in a great castle surrounded by tall trees. Another distraction?’

Frith hissed through his teeth. The hold spell was so strong that it was difficult to breathe.

‘There was a marriage proposal. A contract to bring our lands together. Her name is Lady Clareon. Her lands are as ancient as the Friths’, and she thought it would be mutually beneficial for us to marry. Since my family were wiped out . . . It would mean security for the bloodlines, and for our lands.’ He gasped more air into his lungs. ‘I was considering it.’

Joah nodded thoughtfully, and all at once the pressure holding Frith in place was gone.

‘You are concerned that if you do not enter into an agreement with this woman you will lose everything that your family once meant. That this is what your father would have wanted you to do. But there is a great conflict in your heart, and you cannot commit to either path.’

Frith stared at him.

‘I can feel your mind, Aaron. I’m beginning to know how you think.’ He looked at him, his brown eyes completely sincere. ‘I know that you miss your family. I am sorry.’

Frith looked away. ‘That is none of your concern.

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