Furyborn by Claire Legrand Read Free Book Online Page B

voice. “Hurry, they’ve started announcing the racers.”
    Damn, damn, damn. Rielle twisted and squirmed, tugging at her shirt.
    On the other side of the screen, the tent flap opened. “The race is starting, and it seems my two riders are nowhere to be found,” came Odo’s smooth baritone, with only a touch of irritation. “May I remind you that I’m wageringquite a bit of coin on both of you, as well as my own head, should either of you be stupid enough to be discovered? Or worse, break your necks?”
    “We’ll be right there,” Rielle called. “Have I ever given you reason to doubt me?”
    “On numerous occasions, in fact,” Odo replied. There was a pause. “Shall I enumerate them for you?”
    “One moment, please, Odo,” Audric said, laughter in hisvoice.
    The tent flap closed.
    “Can I come around?” Audric called.
    “Yes, but…oh, hang on.” With a violent twist, Rielle managed to free herself. She jerked down the tunic, fumbling with the gold ribbons at the neckline. “Yes, all right, I’m decent.”
    Audric rounded the screen, her leather riding jacket and cap in hand. “Could it be that we’re about to sneak into this life-threateningrace, and you’re the flustered one?”
    “Never mind that you tried to get out of doing this a dozen times.” Rielle yanked her cap from his hand. “Never mind that you haven’t broken a rule in your life before now.”
    “But what an inaugural defiance it is, don’t you agree?” He moved closer to help her fasten the tunic’s clasp between her shoulders. His fingers grazed the nape of her neck. “Imean, I could have begun my rebellious streak with something simple. Being late to morning court, skipping my prayers, bedding a servant girl—”
    She burst out laughing. It sounded shriller than she would have liked. “You? Bed a servant girl? You don’t know the first thing about courting a woman.”
    “So you think.”
    “I don’t believe it.”
    “Am I that hopeless a case to you?”
    “To start,you’d have to put down your books every now and then.”
    “Lady Rielle,” came his teasing voice, “are you offering to educate me in the art of seducing a woman?”
    A terrible silence fell. Rielle felt Audric tense behind her. A blush crept up her cheeks. Why had she let herself get drawn into this, of all conversations? She knew nothing about courting anyone.
    Her father had made sure ofthat.
    Once, at thirteen, Rielle had come home after watching fifteen-year-old Audric practice his swordwork in the barracks yard, feeling on edge and ready to burst out of her skin.
    Her father and his lieutenants had run Audric through many drills that day. Magister Guillory sat nearby, offering advice whenever she saw fit. As Grand Magister of the House of Light, the ferocious old womanhad overseen Audric’s sunspinner studies for years. She and Rielle’s father had helped Audric focus the sometimes overwhelming call of his power into the physical, reliable work of fighting with a sword.
    Rielle had watched many of Audric’s practices, but that particular one had been different. She had not been able to get him out of her head afterward—how he’d moved in the afternoon light,every motion steady and sure, brow furrowed in concentration as his sword scattered flares of sunlight across his skin. She had brought her father his customary drink after dinner that night and been so rattled that she dropped the cup.
    Her father had raised an eyebrow. “You’re not yourself tonight.”
    She had said nothing, unsure of how to answer him.
    “I noticed you in the yard today,”he observed mildly. “You’ve been coming around often of late.”
    Rielle crouched to sweep up the mess, her hair hiding her hot face.
    Then her father had pulled her to her feet, hard enough to hurt her wrist.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” he had told her, “and I forbid it. You might lose control one day and hurt him. He has a rare gift, do you understand? The most power anyone