Dawnsinger by Janalyn Voigt Read Free Book Online

turned back to Calib. “Let that lie between them. It has naught to do with you. I don’t want trouble in my inn.”
    Calib chewed his lip while he glared at Kai. Finally, his posture eased. “For you, Quinn, but get him out of here.”
    Quinn sent Kai a wordless look, full of meaning.
    Kai recovered himself. “As you wish.” Grasping Shae’s hand, he led her outside onto the porch but paused there to draw deep draughts of fresh air as his eyes adjusted to darkness.
     
    ****
     
    Shae blinked but could not see beyond the pool of light spilling onto the porch from the oiled parchment window. The need to flee pulled at her, but her trembling legs wouldn’t carry her far. An intense longing for the comfort and safety of her bed at Whellein brought her near tears. As she fought for control, a small sound caught in her throat, and Kai turned her into his embrace. She let him comfort her, putting from her mind thoughts of the violence the arms that held her had just wrought. She had never seen Kai in action before, and had not known he could fight with such deadly grace and precision. In truth, she had never seen anyone fight before, except in play.
    A burst of bawdy laughter drifted from the inn. If she didn‘t know differently, she would think nothing untoward had happened. The disturbance had been but a wrinkle in the fabric of the evening to most of those within. Even the two messengers would shelter this night in the inn.
    But where would she and Kai rest?
    “Pssst…” The sound came out of the darkness below the steps.
    Shae started, and Kai went still. “Who goes there?”
    “Come, then!”
    The voice belonged to a woman. By straining her eyes, Shae just made out below the porch a figure carrying something dark and bulky. She resisted the gentle pressure of Kai’s hand at her elbow, but then she sensed that his tension had eased. Whoever called to them in the night, he must know her. Trying to quiet her jumpy nerves, she let Kai guide her down from the porch and toward the figure in the moonlight. Even as they neared, the woman’s features remained hidden beneath the shadow of her cloak’s hood.
    Kai released Shae’s elbow. “Why do you ask us to come when your husband tells us to go?”
    “Be my husband what sent me, to settle you for the night. Come. We’ll walk in darkness for I dare not bring a light, although I know the way well enough. Follow Heddwyn.”
    Heddwyn? Quinn had only just banished them from the inn. Why did his lady help them?
    Heddwyn guided them to a hunched-over building, which they entered through a low door. The smell of leather, fresh hay, and manure assailed Shae. Unseen beasts thudded their hooves. Moonlight fell through the open doorway and around a slatted window above the loft, but the rest of the building reposed in darkness. Understanding dawned, and Shae gasped. “Here? We must sleep here?”
    “Aye.” Heddwyn spoke beside her. “You’d not be safe in the inn this night. The stables will serve, but take yourselves away early. Those two from King Euryan likely won’t wake until midday, and with thick heads and bruises, but others could bring you sorrow.”
    Heddwyn stepped into the moonlight. She struggled to drag her dark burden up a ladder toward the loft. Reaching its top, she stepped from the ladder and paused to catch her breath, then beckoned to them as bars of moonlight from the loft window slatted across her. “Come.”
    Shae hesitated. Must a raena of Whellein sleep in a stable loft? What would Mother say about this night’s events? But then, Mother had urged her to submit to Kai’s care. When Kai touched her elbow, she sighed, kilted her skirts and climbed the ladder. She heard Kai following.
    The hay dust in the loft made Shae sneeze.
    Heddwyn lay down her burden, panting as she spread the thick furs on the hay where it spilled into drifts. Shae gave the makeshift beds a speculative look. She and Kai would stay warm enough beneath those furs, but