Wolfsbane Winter by Jane Fletcher

Author:Jane Fletcher [Fletcher, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, healer, Vet, Misery Trail, mercenaries, Dark Ages
ISBN: 9781602821583
Google: euCfQAAACAAJ
Amazon: 1602821585
Publisher: Bella Distribution
Published: 2010-07-20T00:00:00+00:00

Jane FLeTCher

Deryn’s faint shake of the head was clearly intended to dismiss the subject. She did not want to talk, but she did not need to. There was only one interpretation of her pain.

“They’re dead. All of them. How?”

“Why should you think…”

Added to the mix, Deryn was also now startled. Alana had slipped up. The savage grief she had absorbed had wiped out her better sense.

Be careful. If you can’t block her out, then make sure you don’t reveal what the empathy tells you. But confronted by the enormity of Deryn’s pain, it was easier said than done. The emotions filled the room—pain, anger, and terror. Overriding it all was the utter sense of abandonment and the world ripped open, without love or security. The blend screamed of a child’s vulnerability and incomprehension.

“How old were you?”

“Eleven.”

“How did they die? W—” Alana broke off and clutched at her talisman. This was exactly the sort of danger she had foreseen, the reason why she dared not take a lover. She had to block out the pain and act as if she knew no more than what had been said aloud. And if she could not stop herself blurting out too much, then she should clamp her mouth shut and say nothing.

Deryn had slipped down in her chair, her eyes fixed on the fire.

She did not want to talk, and it was wrong to use magic to take what she did not want to share.

“I’m sorry. Forget I asked, please.”

Perversely, Deryn decided to answer. “Outlaws.” As she spoke the word, part of the child’s pain softened and was replaced by an adult need to understand and control. “Outlaws. A gang of them.” Suddenly, the words started to flow. “My family were fur trappers. We lived in a cabin in the mountains—my parents, grandparents, a couple of aunts, my brother and sister. Nine of us. Late one day we saw a group in the distance riding our way. I said I’d get rabbits to make stew for them—me, as a kid, showing off. I was proud of how I could hunt. My dad laughed as he said okay. I’d just shot the second rabbit when the group reached our cabin. I was in the woods out the back, but I stopped to watch. I peeked through the bushes. The man in the lead pulled up by Grandpa Jojo. They were talking and then the man drew his sword and he…” The muscles in Deryn’s jaw clenched.

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