Rise of the Serpent (Serpent's War Book 2) by Jason Halstead Read Free Book Online Page B

things most miss. Yes, I’m sure of it. She looks like my mother.”
    “Wait—you said you were orphaned?”
    “My parents left me with my mother’s parents—on her father’s side. It’s confusing, I know, but they had hard travels ahead and feared for my safety.”
    “Did they?”
    Namitus tilted his head. “What’s your thoughts?”
    “Well.” Amra shrugged her shoulders. “If I had a child, I wouldn’t want anyone to be with them other than me. Seems...I don’t know, selfish, maybe?”
    Namitus glanced at Jillystria and nodded. “Perhaps.”
    “What of your grandfather?”
    “I don’t know. Killed before I was born. An accident, I was told.”
    “And she’s here now,” Amra added.
    “So she is,” Namitus agreed. “To what purpose or end I can only guess.”
    “You have a guess?” she asked. “That’s something.”
    “You’ve heard a little about this nonsense of half-bloods? Well, perhaps some forty years later she’s developed a conscience and has come to check on her daughter.”
    Amra shook her head and said, “Forty years. That’s almost as long as my dad’s been alive.”
    “I’m nearing thirty myself,” Namitus admitted. “And not a one of them dull.”
    “If half the stories you told are true, I bet not. I especially enjoyed the one where you were teaching the merchant’s son while your friend accidentally started a fire that burnt his house down around you. Did you really save the entire family?”
    “And the merchant’s ledgers,” Namitus said with a nod. “He’d have been lost without them.”
    “You’re quite the hero.”
    Namitus chuckled. “No, my friends are. I just have Saint Dice’s favor to be in the right place at the right time. Alto, now he’s a man who makes the dice roll for him, no matter what the odds.”
    “He sounds...”
    “Noble,” Namitus said. He chuckled. “No better way to put it. He was born a farmer and has his feet in the mud still, reminding himself of it every step of the way.”
    “Ah, to lead such a charmed life,” she sighed.
    “Hardly,” Namitus said. “His adventures and victories weren’t without cost. His family was butchered by the Order for his actions. His sister escaped only because he stopped them from killing her after they were finished using her body.”
    Amra’s eyes widened and her hand flew to cover her gasp.
    Namitus nodded. “Now she’s gotten her head twisted around and works for the same snakes that condoned her torture and murder years past.”
    “Splisskin?”
    “What? No, sorry. Snakes as in treacherous bastards,” he said. He smiled and added, “Pardon my language.”
    “No pardon needed,” Amra said. “You know, when I met you before, I had no idea what to think of you. What man would dress as a woman?”
    “It was a disguise!”
    She smiled. “I know. But you wore it well. And then you brought us hope of something better. A brighter future, but it seemed so unrealistic that we doubted.”
    “Looks like it was unrealistic,” he said.
    “Through no fault of your own,” she said in his defense. “You gave us the means; it was the Shadows and the corrupt guardsmen that put an end to our attempts to come together.”
    Namitus shrugged. “We should have come back sooner, or at least I should have. I wasn’t needed in the north after Sarya and Rosalyn were defeated.”
    Her brow furrowed. “Who are they?”
    “Sarya was the dragon Alto defeated to save Patrina. I helped...a little. Rosalyn was the witch who channeled the defeated dragon’s essence and risked returning her to the world. I definitely helped with that.”
    Amra laughed. “You seem awfully worried about receiving credit.”
    Namitus frowned and considered her words.
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” she said when he didn’t respond right away.
    “No,” Namitus said. “You’re right. Observant again. I suppose I haven’t done a lot of things in my life most people would be proud of.”
    “You don’t strike me