Blood's Pride (Shattered Kingdoms) by Evie Manieri Read Free Book Online Page B

throwing herself at the old man’s feet.
    ‘What’s wrong?’ Daryan asked quickly.
    Rahsa looked up at them, her eyes swimming in tears. ‘I was taking the laundry up, like they told me, and I— I didn’t mean to—’ She stopped to gulp down the sob rising in her throat. ‘I never expected anyone to be there so early. They were outside your room, Daimon—’
    ‘Rahsa,’ Shairav interrupted severely, ‘you know you must never refer to Daryan as the daimon, even when only we Shadari are present.’
    Rahsa dropped her eyes. ‘Yes, Shairav’Asha, I’m sorry.’
    ‘My room?’ Daryan asked quickly, but she was already hurrying on.
    ‘I couldn’t see over the bundle I was carrying and I knocked into her, and then I tried to help her up, and I
touched her arm
—Please, I didn’t mean to do it. Please hide me! I don’t want to be—’
    ‘Rahsa, calm down!’ Daryan bent down and forced the hysterical girl to get to her feet, thinking how unfortunate she was to be pretty enough for temple service; the sensitive ones never fared well. ‘You couldn’t have hurt her badly if you only touched her for a moment. It might have stung a little, but that’s all. It was just a mistake. She’s probably forgotten all about it by now.’
    Rahsa looked up at him with a reverential gleam in her eyes. ‘Do you really think so?’ she asked hopefully.
    ‘I’m going to take Lord Eofar his breakfast right now – I’ll talk to him about it. It will be all right, I promise you. Go on, now. You should be getting back.’
    Before he could say anything further another Shadari dressed in stableworkers’ brown, Shairav’s fawning new assistant Majid, came through the door. ‘Shairav’Asha,’ he said in a low voice, ‘you’re needed in the stables. The White Wolf is already awake and the whole garrison is preparing to ride out.’
    Most of the other Shadari, having quickly realised that Rahsa’s dramatics did not concern them, had already left the funeral chamber to resume their duties. Just as Daryan turned to slip away with them, his uncle thwarted his escape, calling, ‘Walk with me.’
    ‘Of course, Uncle,’ he said, suppressing a sigh. He took his place at Shairav’s side and they strode off towards the stables where his uncle’s beloved dereshadi would be having their messy breakfast of rotting goat. The refectory where Eofar’s breakfast was waiting to be fetched lay just beyond the stables. He could think of no good excuse for going a different way from Shairav but he knew what would happen the moment they were alone together.
    Shairav did not disappoint. ‘I do not want to hear that woman’s name mentioned, by you or anyone else, ever again,’ he said as soon as they were alone. The old man hated her, of course. Until Shairav had taken over as breedmaster, the dereshadi had been steadily dying out. Harotha had been the only one with the courage to point out that without enough dereshadi at their disposal, the Dead Ones might not have been able to maintain control of the colony.
    Daryan found himself compulsively counting the empty brackets between the few torches the Dead Ones – who could see in almost total darkness – allowed the slaves to light.
Two, three, four, five …
    ‘Daryan. Did you hear what I said?’
    ‘I’m not the only one who thinks she should be honoured,’ he argued, carefully keeping his tone amiable. ‘Her mother and father were both ashas. Her family has produced at least one asha in every generation as far back as anyone can remember—’
    ‘And they died, along with the others. So her parents were ashas; she was not – the
presumption
, coming here and demanding to be shown the secret staircase, expecting me to ordain her—’
    ‘So she could carry on if something happened to you,’ he put in. ‘Otherwise all the knowledge of the ashas will die with you.’
    ‘She wanted power for herself,’ Shairav said dismissively, ‘and she would have used it to destroy