Promising Light by Emily Ann Ward Read Free Book Online Page A

another passerby. Couldn’t he just
leave? Leave her alone, let her be, let her pretend to be the wild
child, to be connected to these tigers, to have a different
childhood, one without him or the Avialies.
    He finally left, and she carried on
the rest of the act until the show began. Vance and Nassan rolled
the cage back into the large performers’ tent. Alec stood nearby,
his arms crossed over his broad chest. “I want to have a hand at
that leash sometime.”
    Sierra ignored him. The tigers
wouldn’t respond well to Alec. She could picture them mauling him,
and it was quite a satisfying fantasy. She pulled the rope off and
handed it to Vance. She didn’t want to think about the hostility
Alec had toward her simply because she was from Shyra. It reminded
her too much of another kind of bigotry that had ruined her life
and torn away everything she’d held dear.
     
    * * *
     
    After the show, Sierra helped with
the cleanup. There was so much to take care of, almost more than
before the show: the animals, the costumes, the tents. She didn’t
even change out of her torn, brown dress to help Jewel unsaddle the
horses. Becca called out to her as she approached the stables,
“Sierra! There’s someone to see you!”
    Sierra looked over her
shoulder.
    “Some guy’s out there,” Becca
said, motioning behind him. “He looks rich.”
    Dar. Sierra hesitated. “Tell him I’m not
here.”
    “What? Sierra, he’s really
handsome, too.”
    “Tell him—” Sierra cut off. Over
Becca’s shoulder, she saw that Dar had come into the stables on his
own, and he was staring at her. She swore and walked over to him,
her heart pounding.
    A few feet from him, she stopped
and crossed her arms. Possible things to say flew through her mind,
but each of them seemed stupid. It’d been two years since she ran,
and she knew how she looked—filthy, ragged, bloody. He looked good,
of course, in his noble wear. There were so many times when she’d
wished to see him again, but she knew he fled to Renaul a year ago.
She couldn’t risk it. Now he must be here with the prince, who
worked with the Protectors.
    He studied her worriedly. “Sierra.
You… you’ve looked better.”
    Sierra looked down at her bare feet
as she curled her toes into the dirt. “Yeah, comes with being the
wild child.”
    “I suppose you could describe our
family as tigers,” Dar said with a half-smile.
    Our family. Sierra frowned. She didn’t like to think
of them as her family. Not after what they’d done. She took a deep
breath and met his eyes. “What are you doing
here?”
    “I had to see you. I’ve been
looking for you everywhere, and suddenly I see you in cages with
tigers, looking like this.” He motioned to her dress and ran a hand
through his hair. “I can’t believe I haven’t seen you for two
years.” His gaze dropped to the ground. “Since Seth and Evan
died.”
    Sierra said nothing, wringing her
hands in front of her. She gazed at his face. He looked slightly
older. Maybe it was just her imagination, but he did have bags
under his eyes. She wondered if she looked different. Besides the
dirt. If she put on one of her old dresses, combed through her
hair, wore the jewelry she’d already sold, would she look older?
Did she look different from two years ago, when the world was
wonderful and her future was open? Would people be able to see the
darkness that had grown inside of her?
    “Sashe has missed you,” Dar
said.
    Sierra tensed and met Dar’s eyes.
“You’ve seen her?”
    “She lives at the castle. She’s
the king’s mistress.”
    “Yes, I know.” She fought to keep
annoyance out of her voice. Of course she’d seen Sashe, but she
wouldn’t tell Dar that, not when he seemed so hurt that she hadn’t
contacted him. She pushed that guilt away. He could be trusted, but
his family couldn’t be. “But you talk to her? Even though she’s so
close to the Protectors?”
    With a frown, Dar said, “Of course
I do. I have no reason to