Raven's Shadow by Patricia Briggs Read Free Book Online

introductions.
    â€œTier tells us you have no home, child,” said Tier’s mother, in a begrudging tone—as if she expected Seraph to impose on her for a place to stay.
    â€œAs long as there are Travelers, I have a home,” Seraph replied. “It only remains for me to find them. Thank you for your concern.”
    â€œI told them that I would escort you to your people,” said Tier. “They don’t come near Shadow’s Fall, so it might take us a few months.”
    â€œSo we are to lose you again?” said his mother querulously. “Alinath and Bandor cannot keep up with the work—every week they toil from dawn to dusk for the bakery, which is yours. When you come back in a few months, I will be dead.”
    It was said in a dramatic fashion, but Seraph thought that the older woman might be speaking truth.
    â€œI can find my people on my own,” said Seraph.
    â€œDo you hear that, Tier? She is a Traveler and can find her own way,” said Alinath.
    â€œShe is sixteen and a woman alone,” returned Tier sharply. “I’ll see her safe.”
    â€œYou were younger than that when you went off to war,” said Alinath. “And you weren’t a witch.” She bit off the last word as if it were filthy.
    â€œAlinath,” said Tier in a gentle voice that made his sister pale. “Seraph is my guest here and you will not sharpen your tongue on her.”
    â€œI can take care of myself, both here and on the road,” said Seraph, though his defense touched her—as if the words of a solsenti stranger could hurt her.
    â€œNo,” said Tier, his voice firm. “If you’ll house us for the night, Mother, we’ll start out tomorrow morning.”
    Tier’s mother and sister exchanged a look, as if they’d discussed the situation while Tier had left them alone to retrieve Seraph.
    Tier’s mother smiled at Seraph. “Child, is there a hurry to find your people? If you cannot tarry here until I pass from this world into the next, could you not stay with us as our guest for a season so that we might not lose Tier so soon after we’ve found him?”
    â€œA Traveler might be harmful to business,” said Seraph. “As I said, there is no need for Tier to escort me. I am well capable of finding my people by myself.”
    â€œIf you go, he’ll follow you,” said Alinath with resignation. “It may have been a long time since I’ve seen my brother, but I doubt that he has changed so much as to go back on his sworn word.”
    â€œStay, please,” said his mother. “What few people who will not eat from the table where a Traveler is fed will be more than compensated for by the new business we’ll get from the curiouswho will come to the bakery just to catch a glimpse of you.”
    Seraph was under no illusion that she’d be a welcome guest. But there was no doubt either that they wanted her to stay if that were the only way to keep Tier for a while.
    â€œI’ll stay,” she said reluctantly and felt a weight lift off her shoulders. If she were here then she wasn’t fighting demons and watching people die around her because she hadn’t been able to protect them. “I’ll stay for a little while.”
    Â 
    â€œWhere is my brother?” Alinath’s voice sounded almost accusing, as if she thought Seraph had done something to Tier.
    Seraph looked up from sifting the never-ending supply of flour, one of the unskilled tasks that had fallen to her hands. She glanced pointedly at the empty space next to her where Tier had spent the last three weeks mixing various permutations of yeasted bread. She raised her eyebrows in surprise, as if she hadn’t noted that he hadn’t taken his usual place this morning. Then she looked back at Alinath and shrugged.
    It was rude, but Alinath’s sharp question had been rude, too.
    Alinath’s jaw tightened, but she