Free Michelle West - Sun Sword 06 - The Sun Sword by Michelle West Page B

him, the words snapping the
brittle disapproval as if it were the finest, the thinnest of reeds.
    "Yes," Levec said wearily. He did not attempt to warn Finch away. "He had to
kill it. With his gift. You see clearly, little one."
    She shook her head fiercely. "I see Adam."
    "She couldn't hear me," Adam said, speaking for the first time since The
Terafin had rejected him. "I could hear her. I could
almost
reach her.
But she couldn't hear me. Because it was there. It was in the way."
    "It's gone now?"
    He swallowed. "Gone."
    And she threw her arms around him with a ferocity that would have surprised
even Jay, had Jay been there.
    "I could not see what he saw," Levec told Sigurne. "I could hold her body
here. I could preserve her life. But I could not do what Adam did."
    "If you hadn't been there," Adam said, in slow, deliberate Torra, as if Levec
were the child, "it wouldn't have mattered. I couldn't do both."
    But his words brought no comfort to Levec, and Finch realized that the master
of the houses of healing had once again failed one of his charges.
    No one blamed him.
    No one had to.

CHAPTER THREE
    THEYwere ordered out of the bedchamber. Only Morretz was allo-wed to
stay.
    Adam huddled against Finch, but Levec still held him fast, denying him
freedom. She was glad that Levec had come; she could not have born the burden
alone. Not because Adam was larger, or stronger, than she—although he was
both—but because she couldn't bear to see him in such obvious pain.
    He looked like the boy she had seen in a large bed in the rooms of Master
Levec on a day that belonged in a different life. She had waited patiently while
he had gathered his strength; had waited patiently while Levec had forced what
knowledge he
could
force into "that boy's thick skull." She had seen
him struggle to master his need and his desire, and she had been proud of him.
    Very proud.
    But that was gone; what remained was the visceral truth of the evening's
work. He was alone again, and terrified.
    She had been both in her time.
    We shouldn't have brought him here
, she thought. But she spoke to
herself, and she answered. The Terafin needed him. And Finch had proved herself
to
be
ATerafin; she had sacrificed Adam's progress to House Terafin's
need.
    "Girl," Levec said, "the decision was mine."
    She started to answer, but the door opened upon her words, and when she
turned to see The Terafin in black, white, and gold, she surrendered all
argument.
    "Finch. Teller. I think it would be best if you returned to your rooms."
    Not a request.
    "Master Levec, forgive me, but I fear I require your presence."
    He said, "Let me see them to safety, Terafin, and I will join you." Before
she could speak, he added, "We both have our responsibilities and our duties."
    She nodded. "In the healerie, then. Sigurne?"
    "I have spent most of the evening there," the magi said quietly. "We have
touched little, but we have made the preparations and begun the delving. I do
not wish the careful night's work to be lost to House Guards; if you will have
me, I will accompany you."
    Just like that, the den was rendered superfluous. Finch watched The Terafin
sweep past; Torvan and the Chosen followed in her wake.
    "Foolish girl," Levec said.
    She glanced up at him, across the awkward bridge of the Empire's greatest
healer.
    "Yes, I'm talking to you. She values you highly. And she knows what this
night will cost you."
    "I'm not a child," she said, keeping the obdurate whine out of her voice with
great effort. "I know what we've lost."
    "You think you know. But you will come to understand the peculiar grace of
shock. The Terafin gives you time—and she may not have the luxury of that gift
in the future. Accept its wisdom, ATerafin, and tend to your kin."
    Sigurne did not speak because The Terafin did not; they walked at a leisurely
pace, two women of power who chose to grace the length of the Great Hall with
their presence. The servants scurried from one