Free Any Price by Gail Faulkner Page B

a slit to watch him, Kenna attempted to isolate Thomas’ connection. Unerringly it rose to the surface. She felt energy flowing around the knight as he remained alert to her location and yet not watching her personally. He was tired. The man had spent the day following terrorists, disarming a bomb and then winning a joust, events that would drain most men. He’d then taken up guarding her through the afternoon instead of recuperating.
    The two brothers, Yuri and Thomas, were very large men but that’s where their similarity ended. Now that she’d discovered how to “feel” them, she could clearly see the different energy they operated on.
    Interestingly, she could also feel how deeply Thomas took his oath to her. He was both exceedingly proud and very committed to the responsibilities he’d given himself. Kenna found that information fascinating, but there were so many things to explore. Trying to be careful with the new ability, Kenna suspected she was a bit clumsy handling it. She was picking up more information than felt polite so she moved away from the men.
    Julianna was easy to discern. She was very busy doing something she considered critically important. The warm glow from Julianna’s soul felt parental as Kenna examined it, trying to be careful not to probe into reasons Julianna was concerned about her task. Then she realized Julianna knew Kenna was there. Julianna was sending her support without a pause in whatever it was she was doing. She was also trying to assist Kenna in fine tuning this form of acknowledging another. Julianna didn’t feel surprised or even concerned to find Kenna around the perimeter of her mind.
    Kenna laughed out loud—it was that or scream. Thomas immediately focused on her with a question on his face.
    “Get used to it, Thomas,” Kenna warned. “This connection thing is going to make me appear crazy.”
    “Ah, you speak to him?” Thomas questioned politely.
    “No, no. It’s this.” She sent Thomas a little push of dry amusement.
    “Oh. I see.” Thomas smiled and nodded.
    “There are more than just three of you,” Kenna accused as she fought the panic saying those words brought. “Who are they? Why do I feel them?”
    “They are our people, just as you are, my lady. The ones who are not like the rest of the world,” Thomas explained carefully.
    “Not like the rest of the world? What exactly does that mean?”
    “You know I cannot lie to you, right? It would be useless and insulting.”
    “Yes, it appears I’d know,” Kenna acknowledged.
    “The reason I ask is to warn you. Do not ask questions you do not want answered yet. Take some time, my lady,” he cautioned with deep concern swirling around the words. “We whom you feel have known you exist, that is our legacy. From the time we were children we have concealed our differences. It seems you have not known any of this. You need to take a little time to assimilate the new information before piling on more. That you knew nothing of your birthright is wrong and we all feel your distress. There is no threat in our knowledge. We wish you only peace and rest.”
    Her heart tightened and Lore immediately responded. “Are you all right? Do you need me?”
    Kenna sighed. She was not all right. She was probably a raving lunatic, but she needed to at least try to let Lore fulfill his responsibilities. Being the hysteric psychotic wasn’t attractive. If she had to be a psychotic, the least she could do was suck it up and be the best crazy person ever. She really couldn’t even fib in this form of communication so she compromised.
    “I will be fine,” was the thought she sent him.
    “Relax,” came back to her. The short command carried emotional input that was both soothing and arousing. He sent his concern, his curiosity and his frustration at being separated.
    So this connection thing had expanded and now included unknown numbers of strangers. It was a mushroom cloud growing at an alarming rate. Cautioning