Crystal Moon by Elysa Hendricks Read Free Book Online Page B

large piece of his heart.
    “I see.”
    “Do you? I think not.” Though he tried to deny the title,
    as Rul Cathor he was father to all his people. They looked to
    him for strength.
    “The child is sick?” Sianna asked.
    “The child is dying. When her father was conscripted into
    DiSanti’s army, Zoa and her mother were forced to work the
    nika fields to survive. Her mother died last planting season, and
    her father was killed trying to desert.”
    “No.”
    Kyne heard the shock and sorrow in Sianna’s words.
    “Has she been to a healer?”
    “Yes. There is nothing to be done. Zoa’s lungs are damaged
    beyond repair. The thin mountain air is destroying her ability to
    breathe. Our healer tells me Zoa will not live through the winter.”
    The words came out of him cold and stiff, like Zoa’s small body
    would soon be.
     
    Sianna’s fingers dug into his arm. “Surely you’ve sought
    another healer? Let me care for her. I studied the healing arts.”
    “I wouldn’t trust you to care for my quinar.” Wielding his
    words like a sword, he cut off her offer of assistance, but her
    stricken look turned the blade back on himself.
    She persisted. “What of the valetudinarian of the Sisters of
    Light?”
    He shook off her hand and turned to face her. “What of
    them? The hospital is in an area controlled by your father’s
    forces.”
    “The Sisters care for all regardless of religion, politics or
    wealth.”
    “Perhaps, but to get to the Sisters, one must travel through
    Dramon, and to do that, permits are needed. Permits only your
    father and his minions can grant. I find it unlikely he would give
    me or one of mine free passage.”
    “My father wouldn’t stop you from seeking help for a sick
    child.” The quaver in her voice turned the statement to a
    question.
    Her expressive blue eyes begged him to deny her father’s
    evil, and for a brief second Kyne found himself wanting to do
    so. She played the part of the innocent too well. She almost
    shook his belief in her guilt—almost.
    “We’re both aware of exactly who your father is and what
    he’s capable of.” He pushed her through the castle door into
    the great hall.
    ***
    Overwhelmed by the din, Sianna cringed into Kyne. People
    crowded the great hall, each hurrying about his own task. Voices
    echoed off the rough stone walls and swirled upward. Unlike
    the calm order of the valetudinarian or even the strict protocol
    of her father’s castle, here chaos ruled. Taking a deep breath,
    she struggled to block the emotions slamming into her from all
    sides.
    A myriad of odors assaulted her—smoke, unwashed bodies,
    hound, rancid food, and charred meat. Her nose wrinkled in
    disgust. How could people live like this? Kyne’s hand at her
    back urged her forward.
     
    Many in the hall had some manner of injury or illness.
    Others, though appearing healthy, carried grievous wounds on
    their spirits. Kyne’s arrival stirred a flicker of hope in the grief
    and despair hanging in the air. The people watched as he made
    his way past them with her in tow.
    By the Light, these people needed her as much as they did
    Kyne.
    Slowly the scene came into focus, details shifting into view.
    To the left, a fire blazed in a hearth high enough for a man
    to stand upright within and large enough for two men, arms
    outstretched to stand side by side. Ages worth of smoke and
    grease blackened the walls around the hearthstone. Above the
    fire, the carcass of an animal turned on a spit. A young boy
    guarded the meat from a hungry-eyed group of gaunt, shaggy-
    haired wolve hounds. When one hound, bolder than the others,
    lunged for the meat, the boy whacked the animal on the snout.
    The hound bared its teeth, then slunk away.
    Another hound scrounged through the musty rushes covering
    the floor. A sharp squeak rewarded his effort. Gripping his furry
    prize, the hound growled at the others when they tried to share
    in his meager meal.
    “Each day there are more of them,”