Free Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) by Mireille Chester Page B

the eye.
“Chael.” He took a deep breath.
    “You’re wondering about what you saw when you
pulled my tunic off.”
    His lips twitched in an attempt not to smile.
“I’m not wondering about what I saw. I know what I saw. What I’m
wondering is why.”
    My heart sped in my chest. I’d spent the past
eighteen years of my life keeping the secret I was about to talk
about. My mouth fell dry and I took another sip of water.
    “Chaela.”
    “What?”
    “Chaela. My name’s Chaela.” I took a deep
breath and leaned my head back, suddenly relieved to have said it
out loud.
    “But you’re a Knight?”
    I looked up into Ian’s grey eyes and smiled
sadly. “I am. I come from a very long line of Shadow Knights. My
family tree always starts off the same way no matter where you look
at it. The first born of each family is a son. This son is always a
Shadow Knight. It’s been this way for hundreds of years and the
pattern has never been broken.” I smiled grimly. “Until me. You can
imagine my father’s grief when my mother died and his horror at
finding that she’d died giving birth to this.” I gestured to
myself.
    He shook his head in disbelief. “He raised
you as a boy.”
    “Yes and no. He wasn’t disillusioned by any
means. He knew I was a girl. At home, when it was just me and him,
I was Chaela. He still called me Chael most of the time, but that
was more of a nickname than anything.” Thoughts of my father and
the times we’d shared caused the tears to well in my eyes. “He
wanted his first born to be a Shadow. That was never going to
happen if others knew I was a woman.”
    “But what about you; your future? Surely you
can’t go on being a man for the rest of your life. What about
starting a family, or anything of that nature?”
    I shook my head. “I love being a Knight. If I
were to reveal this secret to anyone, I’d be banished.”
    We gazed at each other in silence for a
moment and I was surprised to see him blush.
    “I… All I did was clean you up then put a
fresh tunic on you.”
    It took a minute for what he’d said to
register before I started to laugh. He raised an eyebrow at me.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “Ow…” I tried to stop laughing by taking deep
breaths which caused the stitches to pull on my side. “By gods, I
just… Whenever I imagined someone finding out, that was never the
first thing I thought they might say.” Another fit of laughter took
me and tears rolled down my cheek.
    “What in the world did you expect me to say?”
Ian’s eyes were grey saucers in his head.
    “I’m not sure. Maybe that I’d be exiled, or
imprisoned for impersonating a Knight.” My throat tightened. “I was
always afraid my father would be flogged for his lies, or
worse.”
    Ian’s eyes flashed. “Just one of the reasons
I refused become a Knight.”
    “You were to be a Knight?”
    “Five years ago, I rode into Gleama with
every intention of becoming one. I was going by the market when I
saw a young child being flogged by a Knight. When I questioned why,
I was told the boy had taken an apple without paying. I never took
the test. I just left.”
    I frowned. “Why?”
    “The child was being beaten because he was
starving. I couldn’t be a part of something that would punish a
hungry child.”
    “If you were going to take the Knight’s test,
you were born to one.” I gazed at him curiously.
    “My father is Sir Gavin Murphy.”
    “Sir Gavin’s son is dead.”
    He raised an eyebrow at me. “The last time I
checked, I was very much alive. This is what my father told the
others after I refused to take the test. To him, I am dead.” He
took a deep breath. “I’d prefer the rest of the world kept thinking
that I am.”
    I looked him over carefully. “Well, I’d
prefer the rest of the world still thought I was a man.”
    He nodded. “Now, have a rest and I’ll make
something to eat.”
    I caught his hand as he stood. “Ian.” I
smiled. “Thank you. For everything; saving my