Sela by Jackie Gamber

Author:Jackie Gamber [Gamber, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Seventh Star Press
Published: 2012-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sela rolled to her side on a mattress as soft as a cloud, and so thick and receptive she thought it might swallow her, if she didn’t resist. So she pushed up to sit, and forced open her bleary eyes. Velvet curtains covered the windows in the room, diverting the sunlight to dazzling strips on the floor and walls. Books were stacked in high towers that threatened to tumble, and were piled in mounds on the floor, and stashed sideways on the desk, the side table, and the chair of the room. Her eyes slowly adjusted, until she could see dust and cobwebs, and puddles of melted candle wax splotched erratically across what little bare floor there was.

Movement in a shadow startled her. A man stepped forward, and a ribbon of sunlight slashed his face. Jastin Armitage.

Sela pushed at bedcovers and lunged out of bed, away from him.

“You should stay,” he said.

She threw herself against the door, fumbling for the latch.

“It isn’t locked. But you should stay. Layce will be back soon.”

She paused. She looked over her shoulder. “Who?”

“Layce Phelcher. The crazy wizard.”

“The woman in the blue dress?”

“The very one.”

Sela looked down at herself to find she was still wearing her thin nightdress. Her borrowed cloak was draped over the foot of the bed, but she’d have to walk closer to Jastin to retrieve it.

He picked it up from the bed and held it out. When she hesitated, he tossed it to her.

She caught it, and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Where am I?”

“In Layce’s chambers, in the belly of the castle.”

“How did I get here?”

“I carried you.”

“Where’s Bannon?”

Jastin rubbed his hand over his face, dragged his fingertips through his beard. “Outside, I think. Dealing with the dragon mess you started.”

“I started?”

“Look,” said Jastin, and stepped closer.

Sela grabbed for the door again, and he halted. He held up his hands.

“I’m only here because somehow that woman gets me tangled up in all sorts of things I have no business being involved in. You fainted. I carried you here. She was watching over you, and then suddenly said she needed to leave, and would be right back, and would I please stay to keep you safe.”

“You’re the last person to make me feel safe.”

He lowered his hands. He stared silently, his features softening in wonder. “Every time I convince myself I’m just imagining things, you crop up. With her eyes. With her voice. With her…” He opened his hands, pushed them toward her. “…with her way of hating me.”

Sela wasn’t sure what to say, so she didn’t speak.

“I know you aren’t her,” he said. “You would be older. And you can’t be her child, you would be younger.” He stepped closer again, but this time, Sela allowed it. Although she did keep her hand on the door latch. “Are you a sister?”

“I have no sisters,” she said.

Just then the door pushed open, nudging her backward. A smooth hand gripped the edge of the door near her cheek, and then the wizard, still in her blue dress, stepped into the room.

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