Free Fearless by Marianne Curley Page A

mean?’
    â€˜Remember those bad fires from a few years back?’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜Our old stables burned down. We got all the horses out, but a couple of the mares sustained some minor burns. I watched the vet treat them.’
    â€˜Horses?’
    â€˜Uh-huh.’
    â€˜How old were you?’
    â€˜I don’t know, maybe eleven.’ She looks up at me with a crafty smile. ‘Still don’t want a doctor?’
    The crêpe bandages are secured now and I can tell she’s done a good job; both wrists feel supported, protected. ‘I’ll take my chances with you.’
    â€˜Oh, will you now?’ She smiles, the teasing spark in her eyes subsiding the longer she holds my gaze. ‘She trusted you, Jordan.’
    â€˜That’s what makes it so hard.’
    Inside the car I lift up my one of my bandaged arms. ‘Thanks for this.’
    Our eyes connect. Inside my gut is churning. She smiles sadly. A tear oozes out, rolls down her face. ‘You’re welcome,’ she says, and I start driving.
    At the monastery Brother Bernard is waiting for us. He takes us down a few stone flights of stairs to a corridor with a steel door at the end.
    The conference room has no windows, but fluorescent globes in the ceiling provide ample light. The walls are white, and a long polished timber table sits in the centre with a dozen or so angels around it on high-backed chairs.
    I take a quick headcount.
    Thane is at the table’s head. He looks ragged and beaten but still has an air of authority about him. Michael is on his left, with Isaac, Jez and Solomon next along. On the o pposi te side are Gabe, and the two married couples, Jerome and Sami and Uriel and Tash, with their backs to the door. Three Brothers sit at the opposite end to Thane.
    Amber and I make fifteen.
    Everything stops when we enter. Those with their backs to us turn. Thane stands and comes over to greet us, but I pretend not to see him and sit myself down in the vacant seat next to Brother Tim, who introduces Monsignor Lawrence and Brother Alex in whispers.
    Amber moves silently round to the other side and sits beside Brother Alex.
    As Thane returns to his seat he glances at my wrists. He notices the bandages and his eyes move to Amber. He nodsand silently mouths the words, ‘Thank you.’
    She smiles back. Realising I’m watching, she shrugs as she catches my eye.
    â€˜Jordan, Amber, welcome, and thank you for coming,’ Thane says. ‘These last two days have been trying for you both.’ He opens his hands to indicate the others. ‘And for everyone here.’
    â€˜ You most of all,’ Isaac declares, like a puppy yapping at his master’s heels. I snort air out through my nostrils, louder than I mean to.
    Everyone except Amber and the three Brothers tu rns the ir heads and looks at me with animosity shooting out o f th eir eyes like double-barrel machine gunfire.
    Holy shit , where is a hole in the floor when you need one? The longer they stare, the hotter my face grows. They’ve heard my thoughts. But I’m not backing down and apologising. No way. Thane’s let Ebony down too many times. I can’t just forget that.
    To his credit, Thane calms everyone down. ‘We can all appreciate Jordan’s concern, considering the close bond he shares with Ebony. What’s happening is particularly hard on him.’
    Isaac nods and shifts his death stare away from me.
    â€˜As you all know, Prince Luca has locked the gates of Skade for a hundred years,’ Thane begins, ‘and he’s not going to open them, even if he can, for as long as it suits him. Opening an area wide enough for a team to pass through is our first priority. Michael believes there is a tool that could puncture a hole in the gate. It’s called a hanival . Some of you may remember it.’
    Uriel says, ‘I remember the hanival being used in the First War, but I thought the High King