Free Seventh Dimension - The King - Book 2, A Young Adult Fantasy by Lorilyn Roberts Page A

wound,
blood tinged my fingers. I looked up and saw Judd standing in the
doorway. A knowing smirk covered his face.
    “It’s not what
you think,” I said.
    “I can keep
secrets.” He rolled his eyes and walked away.
    Did he believe I had attacked her? What if she made
false accusations to her husband? She had a witness who wouldn’t
mind ruining me. I stared at the broken chair. I should have taken
it to the carpenter.
     
     

CHAPTER 16 ANNOUNCEMENT

     
    I was always
thankful when Brutus came home as his good-natured humor lifted
everyone’s spirits. He had a proclivity for speaking in multiple
languages at once, and would wink when we gave him a blank stare.
This time he returned more excited than usual and sought us out
individually.
    “I have a big announcement to make,” he said several
times during the day. “Join me tonight at dinner. We’ll celebrate
with a big pot of red meat and vegetables.”
    I spent the day pondering what the big announcement
might be.
    The aroma of salt, onions, garlic, and cumin soon
filled the house. At last, when mealtime came, we were all seated,
waiting to hear the big news.
    Brutus asked me
to say a blessing and I spoke a Hebrew prayer.
    “Let everyone
get their food first,” Brutus said.
    We took turns as each person took a plate full. Red
meat for dinner was a rarity.
    At last, Brutus
raised his wine glass. “Let’s toast.”
    We all held up
our glasses.
    He smiled and made eye contact with each of us
before the big announcement. “Shale, my daughter, is coming for a
visit.”
    I didn’t know he had a daughter. Who else knew?
    Scylla’s smile
left her face but returned before anyone else noticed.
    Judd showed no emotion, but his lack of joy seemed
strange. He set down his drink and stared at his plate.
    Nathan sat up straighter and his eyes bulged.
    Mari took a sip of the wine.
    Scylla spoke first. “When? You should have told me
earlier. We need to prepare her room, make everything ready.”
    “We have two
days,” Brutus said.
    “So you talked with her mother?” Scylla asked.
    Brutus wiped
his mouth, set down his napkin, and leaned back in his chair. “Her
mother asked if she could come. She’s fourteen now, a young woman.”
Brutus lifted his eyebrow and glanced at Judd.
    What did Judd
have to do with this? I couldn’t read minds well enough to know
specific details except with Nathan. I could only read
feelings.
    The room was quiet.
    Judd had eaten only half his food. “May I be
excused?” he asked.
    His request was ignored.
    Mari seemed
oblivious to Judd’s sudden lack of appetite. “I look forward to
meeting her. We’ll do everything we can to make her stay
comfortable. Do you know her preferences for food?”
    Brutus puckered
his lips. “I haven’t seen her since she was a baby.”
    I wanted to
keep the conversation going. “This must be a big event for you to
meet her.”
    “Yes. I’m very excited.”
    “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”
    “Thank you, Daniel. Make sure Nathan is on his good
behavior. You know, I never told him he had a sister. I should
have.”
    Nathan smiled broadly.
    I glanced at Nathan. “I have a feeling this will be
good for him, to meet his sibling.”
    After dinner, I
plodded to my room thinking about Brutus’s daughter. What did she
look like? What prompted her visit? How long would she
stay?
    The next day I
helped Judd with cleaning the stalls and the cave. Scylla said
Shale would be coming on a donkey that belonged to the family.
Brutus had loaned the donkey to a friend a few months earlier.
Brutus had asked the man to send the donkey ahead to fetch
her.
    Judd was glad for my help, though his aloofness
bothered me.
    I enjoyed being around the animals almost as much as
I liked being with Nathan, but I left Judd’s prize donkey,
Assassin, alone.
    The day before
Shale’s arrival, we received another strange visitor. A small brown
and white dog arrived on the back portico. She walked around the
outside of