Call of the Colossus: An epic fantasy novel (The Mindstream Chronicles Book 2) by K.C. May Read Free Book Online

warm.
    “The pleasure and honor are mine.” He released her hand and gestured to the chair she’d been sitting in. “Won’t you sit down?”
    Jora thought she should wait for him to sit first, yet he remained standing, obviously waiting for her. He was the king. She was just a girl, a leather worker from a small town on the seashore, and yet he treated her as an honored guest in his palace. She lowered her backside hesitatingly to the cushion, and once she did, he sat as well.
    Not knowing how to start a conversation with the King of Serocia, she fell back on politeness. “Your home is lovely.”
    At the same time, he said, “Thank you for coming.”
    They shared a look of surprised chagrin, and each broke into a wide smile.
    “Forgive me,” King Yaphet said. “I feel somewhat out of my element. I’m usually much more commanding and so forth, you know. Kingly. I expected the Gatekeeper, a slayer of veteran soldiers, to be brash, not the sweet and polite young lady before me. Are you certain you’re the same Jora Lanseri who has the Justice Bureau running around in a panic, waving their hands?” He wiggled his hands back and forth above his head.
    Jora laughed, feeling warmth fill her face. “I am. Apparently they think me quite dangerous.”
    “Are you?” he asked, his head cocked.
    “Not to you. Not to anyone who isn’t trying to kill me. Not to anyone who hasn’t slain my entire town.” She lowered her gaze to her hands where they sweated in her lap.
    He breathed heavily and leaned back in his seat. “Have you brought to justice everyone who was involved in that?”
    “Yes,” she said quietly, daring to look up again. That he called it justice and not revenge had her attention.
    King Yaphet nodded once. “Good. I can’t help but think that had you brought evidence to your elder, he’d have swept the matter aside.”
    “Elder Sonnis was a murderer,” she said. “He killed Elder Kassyl and assumed his place, then killed a novice who confronted him with proof.”
    “Did he, now? This I hadn’t heard. How do you know?”
    She described having Observed Gilon after his death and witnessed the confrontation, learning also that Gilon had discovered Elder Sonnis’s treachery by Observing the plants that had been present for Elder Kassyl’s murder.
    “Plants,” the king mused. He glanced around the office at the number of potted plants that graced the room. “That’s disturbing. I’ll have these removed. What I don’t understand is how Elder Kassyl’s murder relates to the smuggling that your friend thought he uncovered. Boden Sayeg, yes? Son of Gunnar?”
    Her eyes widened. How did he know about that?
    “My Minister of War has apprised me of the situation. I’m not notified every time a soldier is taken to Jolver for court-martial, of course, but in this particular case, the soldier’s claims were brought to my attention.”
    She nodded her understanding. Of course he would be apprised. He ’ s the king. “Elder Sonnis thought he could manipulate me.” Elder Gastone’s words whispered in her mind, I ’ m sure you ’ ll find her… pliable . She balled her hands into fists. “Captain Kyear knew it was only a matter of time before I would read Boden’s journal and learn of the smuggling, and he went to Sonnis—then only an adept—to request I be slain before I could tell anyone about it. Adept Sonnis saw something special in me, and so he approached Elder Kassyl to discuss the alternative—killing all of Kaild. Elder Kassyl refused, and so Sonnis killed the elder so that he could assume the power to issue that order.”
    “Why?” the king asked. “What had the Kailders to do with it?”
    “Nothing,” Jora said. The tension in her hands crawled up her arms to her shoulders. “It’s so maddening. The Legion had Boden under control—he wasn’t in a position to tell people about the smuggling. Sonnis thought that giving me no one to turn to was the way to keep me silent. He