Sword by Amy Bai Read Free Book Online

considering this. Tell me you're not. King Farrell would never stand for it—and your mother would burn Sevassis to the ground first."
    “But what if they’re right ?”
    There was no response to that she’d hear right now, so he gave her the only one he could: he pulled her into the circle of his arms and held tight. They didn’t embrace often—he might think of her as a sister, but she was still the daughter of another House, and royal, and beautiful, and rumors bred like rabbits in these halls—and she stiffened in his hold before heaving a sigh and slumping to lean on him. They stood that way for a few moments, until they were both a little uncomfortable, and then separated. Taireasa wiped her face on her sleeve.
    "They're not," Devin said firmly. "They're wrong and you know it, just as you know they're only doing this to stir up trouble and get some concession or other. Why King Farrell doesn't just raise the trade tariffs on their wine, or levy some new 'contentious bastard' tax on anyone who holds a landed title, I don't know; it would shut them all up for years, I swear."
    She put a hand to her face and leaned against the crumbling wall, her shoulders shaking. It took him a moment to realize it was laughter—prudently silent, but so hard she wheezed, and flapped her free hand at him.
    " Gods , you are your father's son," she gasped.
    "Oh, come now, he'd never suggest anything so silly."
    "He'd suggest it and mean it," Taireasa contradicted him merrily. "I take it back. You are a war-mad Corwynall, to the very core. Oh, dear gods, that's wonderful. Thank you, Devin."
    He was still stuck on the notion of his father making such a suggestion, whether in jest or seriousness. It was hard to picture. He followed her, content to be quiet now that she had composed herself, and held the lantern when she crouched to get her ear close to another of the odd little doors that led to the rest of the castle.
    He was definitely going to remember about these tunnels. Escaping Emayn would be so much easier now.
    Taireasa pressed on a clever iron latch hidden in a seam and the door cracked open in total silence. She peered out, ducked quickly back in, and then peeped out again after a long moment. She tugged the handle of the lantern out of his fingers and blew it out, then set it far to the side of the door.
    "Come on," she whispered, and leapt out like a cat, letting in a flicker of daylight as the tapestry covering the door flapped around her. Devin threw himself after her, then quickly leaned out of the way as she pushed past him to pull the door shut with a grunt of effort. For a moment they stood together under the tapestry, stained by the sunlight shining through its colors, dust hovering thickly between them, both of them flush with success and the hilarity of a trick accomplished well and without consequence. Devin felt a fleeting envy for Kyali, who had done this so many more times, and who probably knew so many more secrets. He'd had their cousins, childhood friends and rivals and co-conspirators in a thousand mad plots, but what his little sister had with Taireasa was something else altogether, precious and uncompromising.
    No wonder Taireasa was so wounded by Kyali's leaving.
    He was getting maudlin. He flapped the tapestry up and ducked out from under it, then immediately started brushing himself off, because with the daylight shining on his clothes, he could see that he looked like a sculpture of himself, made of dust and old mortar.
    Taireasa strode to the end of their little hall and looked around the corner. "Let's go, then," she sighed, tucking her hand in his elbow as he joined her. "We ought to cross the kitchens, but there'll be serving staff everywhere. Much as I'd rather not, we'll have to cross the main corridor."
    "Just walk like you belong," Devin suggested. This should be interesting. Her eyes were still puffy, and he looked like he'd rolled in some strange pale dirt. He hoped Brisham heard about them