Fire of the Soul by Flora Speer Read Free Book Online Page B

troubled.
     
    The midday meal was a quiet affair. Lady
Elgida appeared to be sunk in deep thought. Calia seldom spoke and
the remainder of the company, which included Anders, Mairne, and
Garit’s men-at-arms, as well as the manor servants, all followed
the example of the three at the high table.
    “My lady?” Calia said at the end of the meal,
“may I see you to your room? Would you like to rest now?”
    “No, not at all.” Lady Elgida thrust back her
chair and stood. “I want to go over the estate accounts. Garit,
come with us. You need to be made aware of the condition of
Saumar.”
    “Yes, Grandmother.” He caught Calia’s eye.
She shrugged and shook her head to indicate she knew no more about
this matter than he did. Curious, Garit followed the women up the
stairs and past the solar, to a small office where books and
scrolls were neatly arranged upon shelves. And there, seated around
a trestle table, Lady Elgida and Calia spent the afternoon
explaining the workings of Saumar to him.
    Garit listened to the words they spoke, as
well as to what he gradually came to believe lay behind those
words. By day’s end he understood that Calia honestly cared about
his grandmother. The knowledge would have been a relief to him, if
only he hadn’t begun to think a dreadful truth was yet to be
revealed, a possibility that gripped him with cold fear, for if he
was correct no male bravery, no strength with sword or lance, nor
even his diplomatic skills would avail against the greatest enemy
of all, which was death. This, he decided, must be the secret Calia
was hiding. He waited, but no word from either woman alleviated his
anxiety. He’d have to find out what he wanted to know on his
own.
    Evening brought another subdued meal at which
Garit ate almost nothing. After Calia had seen Lady Elgida to her
chamber and had returned to the hall, Garit made her sit by the
fire with him.
    “I believe I know what your secret is,” he
began, forsaking diplomacy because he was so worried.
    “My secret?” She turned so pale that he
feared she’d faint and she began twisting her long fingers together
in her lap. “My lord, what do you mean?”
    “I told you to call me Garit,” he said,
knowing he sounded irritated. Which he was. “Garit,” she repeated
obediently, “I have no idea what you are talking about. Perhaps you
ought to explain yourself.”
    “Explain? You’re the one who owes me an
explanation!” He paused to calm himself before he spoke again. “Why
didn’t you tell me the truth when I asked you earlier?”
    “Asked me what?” She sounded as annoyed as
Garit felt. She stopped wringing her hands, instead clenching them
so tightly together that her knuckles were white.
    “About my grandmother’s health,” he said
between his teeth. “You declared that she is well. Yet, she has set
you to show me all the land belonging to Saumar and she’s
determined that I must learn every detail written in those cursed
ledgers, and now she apparently wants me to make an inventory of
the house and the stables and all of the other outbuildings.
Clearly, she doesn’t expect to live much longer and she’s preparing
me to take over this estate. I realize she may have warned you not
to tell me, lest I begin to coddle her. I’m sure she’d hate that.
But I need to know.”
    “Garit,” Calia began, but he wouldn’t let her
finish whatever she wanted to say. He couldn’t allow her to pretend
any longer.
    “Is her condition painful?” he demanded. “If
so, perhaps we can procure some poppy syrup for her. I’ll not have
her suffer. Tomorrow, I’ll swear to her not to leave here so long
as she lives. Only, please, tell me the truth. Is it a growth
somewhere in her body? An encroaching female problem? Is her heart
weakening?”
    “Oh, Garit, stop, I beg you!” She began to
laugh wildly and then to cry. Garit, stricken to his very heart at
the thought of losing his grandmother and feeling guilty for having
neglected her,