Buried Above Ground by Leah Cypess Read Free Book Online

attack was enough to tip the balance between pride and fear. She took a deep breath and said, “Do you think it was alone?”
    For a moment she was sure Varis wasn’t going to answer. Then he shrugged and said, “Probably. If there were two, they would have attacked together.”
    â€œWhy did it attack us at all?”
    Varis glanced over his shoulder at her, long enough for her to see that the contempt was back. “Because we will control their country, one way or another. For all the talk of alliances and marriage, some of them must realize it.”
    Great. Wonderful.
    Callie , she thought, and called up a memory of her sister: Callie with her arms spread to her sides, twirling around and around in the long grass with her small round face tilted back, giggling uncontrollably. The memory was an old one—Callie had been perhaps five years old, Darri eight—but it was the one Darri had fallen asleep to for more nights than she could count.
    Except she always woke up to another old memory: Varis sneaking into her tent to tell her the news. She had been eager to see him, thinking he was coming for one of his usual visits, to regale her in whispers with the tale of a daring raid or a successful hunt. Instead he had told her, in calm concise tones, that Callie would be sent to marry the prince of Ghostland. That their little sister was a reasonable price to pay for the one territory on the east coast they couldn’t easily conquer.
    He had seemed surprised when she erupted from her bedroll, but not too surprised to grab her by the wrist before she made it to the door flap. “Darri. I know it’s hard. But no sacrifice is too great.”
    â€œThis one is,” Darri had raged at him, trying ineffectually to free herself. “This is Callie you’re talking about, Varis, not a herd of horses or a tactical battle advantage. Father can’t do this to her. He can’t. I’ll stop it.”
    Her brother had looked at her with his blue eyes narrowed, disbelief slowly turning to disgust, and said, “I won’t let you.”
    That was the last time he had ever snuck into her tent.
    Now Varis shifted in the saddle, and his voice sharpened. “I think it would be best not to mention this incident when we get to the castle.”
    â€œBecause in order to explain what happened, we would have to admit you were carrying a silver dagger?”
    His response was another look of cool contempt, and Darri had had just about enough of those. She wasn’t stupid, no matter how many stupid things she had done in her rage over Callie’s betrayal. Maybe it was time Varis noticed that. She spurred her horse forward to ride beside him, shouldering his stallion sideways so they could both fit on the forest path, ignoring both his raised eyebrows and the branches that brushed along her left arm. “I know what we’re doing here, Varis.”
    â€œI should hope so. It’s been explained to you in some detail.”
    And he had been repeating it twice daily since they left: the alliance with Ghostland was crucial, especially now that their forces were ready to turn west. They didn’t have time to wait for Callie to come of age. Instead it would be Darri who married the prince of Ghostland, and she had better remember her responsibility to her people.
    The fact that Darri never argued didn’t seem to reassure him at all. Varis was not stupid either.
    She shouldn’t argue now, she knew; there was nothing to gain. But the words came tumbling out anyhow.
    â€œI stopped listening to the explanations after your first attempt,” she said. “They’re not going to start making sense because you keep repeating them. Nobody bothered to ride here with Callie when you traded her away. Why do I get treated better than she did?”
    â€œSomeone has to watch you,” Varis snapped, “to make sure you do your duty. You’ve made that perfectly