Heroes' Reward by Moira J. Moore Read Free Book Online Page A

after
I got there.”
    “When you were
eleven?” Taro rubbed his face.
    Oh, that could
be bad. “And you’re all right?”
    “I was angry a
whole lot at first,” she admitted. “Things – stupid things – made me furious.
It was like I couldn’t think. And then I’d hit people. When they didn’t need to
be hit.”
    “How did the
professors handle this?”
    “They don’t
know.”
    “They don’t
know? How is that possible?”
    “They just
thought I was being uncivilised, right? Bad upbringing, starting training when
I was so old. I calmed down after a while and it was fine.”
    Taro was pacing
in the tiny room. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
    She frowned at
him. “You always told me not to tell anyone anything.”
    “I didn’t
include us in that suggestion.”
    “I didn’t want
to write anything down. Sometimes letters go astray.”
    I wasn’t
thrilled that Aryne had inherited Taro’s – our – paranoia. “How do you manage
things, if no one knows?”
    “Druce is
twenty-six. She goes to Matches. She never gets Chosen. People are giving up on
her. She finds it aggravating, of course, but we think we should wait a few
more years to tell everyone. We know we’ll have to, eventually, but maybe it’ll
look less freakish if we lie about when it happened.” She scraped her hand
through her hair. “Do you have a better idea?”
    No. None. “Let
us think about it a bit. But you’re not getting any Shield training. That’s
dangerous for both of you.”
    “I grew up
Shielding myself,” Aryne reminded me.
    Aryne was the
only person I’d ever met, or even heard of, who could channel and Shield
herself while doing so.
    Though not well.
She had kept herself alive, but had been able to channel only the weakest of
forces. I wouldn’t want her trying to Shield anyone else relying only on what
she had known as a child.
    What a
nightmare. “And Steeler? What does she think of this?”
    “Druce is a very
sensible person.”
    That was an
excellent non-answer. “How are you getting on with her?”
    “She wasn’t
thrilled when it happened. I don’t blame her. It made her a sort of freak, too,
didn’t it? But she was good about it, and she treated me well right from the
beginning. I like her. She’s smart, too.”
    That was
something. That was a lot. At times I had feared Aryne wouldn’t be Bonded at all.
    She had insisted
she was a Shield. I had believed her true nature had been one of a Source, so I
had forced my will upon hers. If she had gone to the Shield Academy, she
wouldn’t have met Steeler until she was ready to leave, and she wouldn’t have
appeared so much of an anomaly. “I’m sorry. You were right. I should have
listened to you.”
    She shrugged.
“I’ve gotten past it. Would have Bonded to Druce either way, wouldn’t I?
Eventually.”
    “That’s not the
point.”
    “Well, I’ll
remind you when I want you to do something. Always good to be able to guilt
people into doing what I want.”
    I deserved that.
    “Does Steeler
know about your night time excursions?” Taro asked.
    “Sometimes she
comes with me. Though she can’t climb worth a damn.”
    So, not so much
of a settling influence there. Not that I wanted Aryne changed in any
significant way, but her life would be easier if she could pretend to be like
other people when it was necessary.
    Aryne remained
for about an hour, talking about Druce and the classes she was taking. As far
as I knew, the Source Academy didn’t actually know that Aryne was of Imperial
blood, but they seemed to have gone beyond what Taro had asked in making her
familiar with all that a potential heir to the throne might need to know.
    Eventually we had
to kick her out, against her wishes. She pouted and called us old and climbed
back down the wall.
    I sat on the
bed. That accent, her deportment. I wouldn’t have thought of trying to change
those. “It sounds like they know she’s of the Imperial line. How did they find
out?”
    “I didn’t