Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn Read Free Book Online

Rachel did and did not like.
    By dint of traveling almost without pause, Obadiah made it to the Galilee River by nightfall, which was starting to come earlier here at the early edge of autumn. The river was dotted with small towns that thrived on trade, and though none of them would be able to boast an inn of true elegance, Obadiah knew that he’d be able to find a reasonable bed almost anywhere. So he began a leisurely descent as soon as he saw the sinuous, glinting shape of the river below him and altered his course only enough to drop into the nearest town in his field of view.
    There were two hotels, neither appearing to have an advantage over the other. Obadiah picked one at random and then had to spend twenty minutes in conversation with the proprietor, who was elated to have an angel as his guest for the night. The room to which Obadiah was eventually brought was no doubt the showpiece of the establishment, well-proportioned, overwarm, and featuring its own connected water room.
    â€œVery attractive,” Obadiah said, smiling cordially at his host. “I shall be quite comfortable here.”
    The proprietor hovered a few more minutes, inviting the angel downstairs for dinner or some really most excellent wine, “made locally, angelo, I know you will like it.” He stopped short of asking if the angel would be willing to sing for the customers gathered downstairs in the common room, though Obadiah knew such an event would be a great coup for the innkeeper. And any other night, Obadiah would gladly have performed, made his host happy and dazzled the neighborhood merchants, who did not often have angels come their way. But not tonight. Tonight he was tired and lovelorn and not able to summon his usual easy charm.
    â€œThank you, I believe I will follow you back downstairs and havea quick meal,” Obadiah said. “And then I must return to this excellent bedchamber to sleep, for I must make an early start tomorrow.”
    â€œThis way, then, angelo. Please follow me.”
    The food was good, the few brief conversations with the merchants who had nerve enough to approach him were painless, and the local wine was, in fact, superb. Obadiah had a second glass and felt his spirits lift a little. It would be good to see Maga and Nathan again, and he had many friends among the other angels transplanted to this new hold. He actually began to look forward to arriving in Cedar Hills.
    Magdalena, it was clear, was overjoyed at the news that Obadiah had come to live with them. “Obadiah, really? Oh, this will make everything so much better. It’s been so hot and dull here, and Nathan is always gone, and you would not believe the petitioners who gather here, every day, with question after question after question. I don’t know how Ariel has been able to stand it all these years. Though, I swear, it was never this chaotic in Monteverde. There are simply not enough of us to do everything that must be done.”
    She had flung herself into his arms when he finally tracked her down, hiding away in an acoustically imperfect chamber where she had been practicing a new song. She had refused to leave the room, claiming that someone would then force her to solve a problem or make a decision or fly off to the Caitanas to sing for rain, and so they had simply plopped themselves on the floor and begun to talk. That surprised Obadiah a little, for Maga was not an angel who liked to forgo her comforts. She was dark-haired and dark-eyed, pretty, and amiable, but she had the materialistic soul of a Manadavvi heiress.
    Living in Cedar Hills, he saw, had changed her already.
    â€œPoor Maga,” he said lightly. “You seem uncharacteristically fretful. I will do what I can to alleviate your various burdens, but I have to tell you that Gabriel specifically wants me to deal with Uriah and the other Jansai. So I don’t know how available I will be to head out and do weather intercessions or track down