Free Call of Kythshire (Keepers of the Wellsprings Book 1) by Missy Sheldrake Page A

knock at the door. Enraged, I stalk to it and throw it open.
    A page in royal livery stands perfectly erect, his gloved hand offering an envelope stamped with the royal seal. He bows when I take it from him, and then turns and trots off in the direction of the palace. My hands are shaking so much I have difficulty opening it. Rian comes to my side and takes it gently. He cracks the seal and pulls out a quickly scrawled note.
    “His Royal Highness Prince Eron requests the presence of Lady Mya Eldinae and Elliot Eldinae to recount the details of their quest at their earliest convenience.”
    “He must have gotten word of our return,” Elliot says from the bottom of the stairs. His low voice does little to calm me. “I’ll tell Mya.” Rian hands the note to his father and then folds me into his arms. At first I feel like fighting him away, but it’s so comfortable I rest against him and bury my face into his shoulder. He smells sweet, like the spicy smoke of the incense I know is used to aid in Rumination. Suddenly, I wish we were alone together.
    “I’m glad you finally decided to wake up,” he murmurs as the others converse quietly in the kitchen. I nod into his shoulder. I want to tell him about everything, even the dream, but it will have to wait. Upstairs, Mya has stopped playing to talk with Elliot, and I can hear Brother Donal at prayer over my father. I hear the couple come down the stairs, and I feel Mya’s arms around the two of us. She kisses Rian on the cheek and tells him to take care of me, and then she and Elliot slip off into the darkening streets to the castle.
     
     

Chapter Six: The Search
    Curled in the crook of my father’s strong arm, I lie staring out his window at the cloud-covered sky. I imagine the moon dancing behind the clouds, smiling as it did in my dream. Sleep won’t come for me tonight. I’m afraid if I let it take me, I might be out for days again and miss something important. I have a feeling even if I wanted to doze, I wouldn’t be able to. My head is too filled with thoughts darting in and out, making me dizzy.
    After Mya and Elliot left for the palace, Brother Donal called me up to my father’s room. He told me Da’s physical wounds were grave, and had Mya and Elliot not raced him home so quickly, he would be in much worse shape. But his healing took well, and with luck and good care Da should be up and about within a day or two. I’m so grateful. Too many times tonight I’ve imagined life without him and it was too painful to bear. I turn away from the window to look at him. The bruises on his face are faded to a yellow-gray ghost of what they had been earlier this afternoon. There is a scar across his brow where he took the worst of the blow, but after the healing and with the blood cleaned away it isn’t so frightening to look at now.
    After a while I hear the door downstairs open and close, and the soft shuffle of Rian’s footsteps as he makes his way upstairs. He peeks his head into the room.
    “They’re ready for us,” he whispers. I sit up and turn and stroke my father’s stubbly cheek, and then pull the blankets up to his shoulders and smooth them tenderly.
    “Sleep sweet, Da,” I whisper as Rian’s warm hand encloses around mine and he leads me down the stairs.
    “What did the prince say to your parents?” I ask him once we’re downstairs. He pauses in the dark sitting room.
    “He wanted a full report of the Quest.” He scowls. “He told them they’re to go back and find your mother at all costs. But he said they must keep it a secret. Their Majesties don’t want anyone to catch wind the quest might have failed. He said it’s a bad omen for his marriage. It was supposed to be a simple task.”
    “A simple task?” I shake my head in disbelief, “They were sent to a land that isn’t supposed to exist on a mysterious quest to return some lost treasure and to whom? Kythshire has no people! It’s only spoken of in legends and storybooks. How is