Shielded by KayLynn Flanders

Author:KayLynn Flanders [Flanders, KayLynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2020-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

A change in the horse’s steady pace jolted me out of sleep. I shifted, twisting my body to balance out the ride. The shard of ice in my side flared out, fighting the heat I felt everywhere else, and I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut. Master Hafa told me once that tension spreads pain, so I steadied my breathing and tried to relax.

Colors blurred by as I focused on taking my next breath. Teren leaned down to say something in my ear, but I couldn’t make sense of his words. I only saw the fading light and felt minutes, hours, ticking away. Every time he leaned down, I responded with, “I’m okay. Keep going.”

The scenery and the sun’s arc hazed by, slowing down and speeding up at odd intervals. I blinked once and found we were racing through a city much bigger than the villages we’d gone through. My head was propped up by Teren, tucked between his shoulder and neck. I caught glimpses of curious eyes, dark hair, and flashes of light from windows as we clopped through the winding streets. The sky was deepening to the purple before the black, and I hoped we were close.

I kept waiting to stop at the healer’s shop, but when we got to a set of gates set in thick walls, we passed right through with just a shout to the guards from Luc. How well off was this healer?

Finally, finally, we stopped, and the world seemed to take an extra turn. I felt hands under my arms, pulling me off the horse, someone helping my leg over the saddle. I leaned against whoever held my arm and felt wetness trickle down my side. My breathing was shallow and fast, and my eyes were getting heavy.

A flurry of servants ran around us in a blur of drab colors. Shouts of “Your Highness!” and “Prince Enzo!” competed in a sort of dissonant melody, a muted chaos competing with the pounding beat of ice and heat and pain through my body.

But at least we had stopped. Instead of a healer’s abode, a palace with huge windows and a turret sprawled in front of us.

Wait. The palace? They were supposed to take me to a healer first.

“Your Highness!”

I turned out of habit toward the old man who’d called out. He was looking our way, but not at me.

“Master Romo,” Teren said, returning the man’s greeting.

The world spun again, and I lurched into Teren’s side.

“Cavolo, Aleinn!” He picked me up in his arms and faced the army of servants and stablehands. “Why didn’t you tell me the bleeding had gotten worse?” The noise around us crashed into my head.

“Let me,” Luc said. “You should meet with your father.”

My hand squeezed the material of Teren’s tan vest, and he held me tighter. “I’ll take her to Yesilia first.”

Who was Yesilia? And why was Teren meeting with his father?

Luc and the man Teren had called Master Romo carved a path through the people running about.

“Welcome home, Prince Enzo,” Master Romo said with a bow, and opened the palace doors for us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.