Free THREE DROPS OF BLOOD by Michelle L. Levigne

around Megassa's imbrose . Just like their blood bond lets the two girls share thoughts.
    I knew we would grow to regret that little discovery, Mrillis said, and sighed
deeply. He could imagine how Nalla and the Council of the Queen's Ladies would react to the
very idea of Meghianna going to Wynystrys with her cousin/half-sister and being within twenty
leagues of Trevissa.
    * * * *
    Efrin only fought one aspect of the girls' trip to Wynystrys. He wanted to go with them,
to guard them. The Wynystrys Council and the Council of the Queen's Ladies refused to bend
and allow him to set foot on the island. The peril of bringing Braenlicach onto the island, where
so much magic congregated, to come near Trevissa with her unpredictable powers of prophecy,
would be tempting disaster and a reaction in the Threads. In the years since Emrillian had hidden
the Zygradon, Encindi and Valors and groups of Rey'kil enchanters had scoured the land in
search of it. They were hampered in their search by the necessity of keeping their enemies from
following them and learning the details of their search. Even though only the makers of the
Zygradon, and their descendants, could see and touch the bowl that bound all the Threads of the
World, there was no guarantee that some enemy couldn't damage it if they detected its location
first.
    The leaders of the Rey'kil did not want to risk the reaction that would come when so
much magic came together in one place, the strength of Braenlicach meeting the concentrated
magic that shielded Wynystrys and bound Trevissa's imbrose . They feared the Zygradon
would react to that surge in magic power, in essence sending out a beacon like the light-towers
that warned ships away from the rocky coastlines. They feared such a signal would be seen by
their enemies. And put the Zygradon into the hands of those enemies.
    Efrin could not accompany his daughters to Wynystrys and face Trevissa unless he left
Braenlicach behind, and after all this time, wielding the sword in battle, exercising the little imbrose he had to bond with the sword, the star-metal blade would not let him leave the
Warhawk's fortress without it strapped to his side.
    Mrillis reflected later that he should have suspected something. The Council of the
Queen's Ladies, so very cautious about everything else that Meghianna did when she was not
safely in the Stronghold, didn't give more than a token protest to Deyral's plan. What did they
expect to see happen, when Megassa and Meghianna stepped foot on the island? Or what
bothered him more--had they planned this with the scholars of Wynystrys, even before Mrillis
passed on Megassa's request?
    During the journey to Wynystrys, he found amusement and distraction in watching the
two sisters interact outside the routines and boundaries of the Warhawk's fortress. Meghianna
had never known or exhibited jealousy until her sister came into her life. Megassa chattered and
explored, urging her horse ahead to ride with Mrillis and Meghianna, other times slowing her
horse to ride with the women guards. Megassa was Captain Gynefra's pet. Meghianna, on the
other hand, rarely talked with anyone but Mrillis. The soldiers who guarded their party didn't
avoid the little girl, but neither were they comfortable with her, as they were with Megassa.
Meghianna noticed, and grew a little more withdrawn and somber with each day of their journey.
Nalla noticed and shared concerned looks with Mrillis, but she did nothing to chide the girl out
of her low spirits. Mrillis looked back on his own distant memories of raising his daughter, and
supported her decision to let Meghianna work through this as a learning experience.
    Their party traveled from the valley of the fortress, to the Magra River, swollen with the
first fall rains, and took flatboats to Quenlaque on the coast. From there, they went overland,
avoiding the many jagged little bays and rocky countryside, cutting off three peninsulas until
they reached the shallow, wide inlet