Free Path of Honor by Diana Pharaoh Francis Page B

staring into Saljane’s carnelian eyes. ~I need you. I love you. But I’m killing you. No, don’t argue. You know it’s true. If you go, you’ll have a chance to get strong again. Strong for me. And maybe you can find the wizards. Whatever Juhrnus says, I’m going to have to go to them for help. They have the answers we need. I need you strong for that. What she’d do when she found them, she had no idea. Somehow she’d have to make them tell her what she needed to know. But that bridge could be crossed later. Until then—
    ~It won’t be long. A few months. By then spring will have set in. If I haven’t learned some control by then, it’ll be time to look for the wizards . Reisil paused, waiting for more protests, but Saljane only dipped her head and rubbed Reisil’s cheek with her beak. More tears welled, but Reisil blinked them away. Suddenly there was nothing left to do but swing Saljane up into the air and send her away. For a moment Reisil went rigid, everything in her resisting. She stroked Saljane’s head and back, trying to capture the feel of the bird’s crisp feathers, her musty smell, the shine of her eyes. Saljane nipped her fingers.
    “Be well. Fly strong,” Reisil whispered, her voice breaking.
    Reisil drew her arm back and flung Saljane up. The goshawk leaped from her gauntleted fist and winged upward, flying west toward the Suune Vaale Mountains. Reisil could feel Saljane’s joy in being aloft and in escaping the city. She watched until Saljane disappeared, jagged-edged sobs bunching in her throat. When she could no longer see her ahalad-kaaslane, she went inside, latching the door and leaning against it. Her knees gave way, and she slid down the wood, giving in to her racking grief.
    The torrent did not last long. Reisil could feel Saljane beginning to falter with growing uncertainty and concern. Viciously she repressed her wild misery, for the first time in their bonding building a mental barrier between them. Methodically she set it in place, willing herself to be strong.
    Standing, she took her cloak off, shaking it out and hanging it on a peg. Then she cleaned the small room, sweeping and dusting invisible dirt. She washed her already clean breakfast dishes and put them away, made her unwrinkled bed and added a log to the roaring fire. True to his word, Juhrnus had provided furniture for her. Jurhnus and Sodur.
    Reisil snarled, hauling her washbucket out to the stone balustrade and emptying the water over the side. Sodur had moved out of the Temple and into the palace and spent most of his days there. Except when he accompanied Juhrnus to see her, at least once a week. Always she had the feeling he was watching her like a spider eyes a fly: measuring, hungry, impatient. He’d made no effort to counter the ongoing rumors, and Reisil had a dreadful feeling that he was weaving more plans—plans that she wasn’t going to like any better than the last. And like that fly, she would find herself tangled helplessly in his schemes before she knew what she was getting into.
    She slammed her palm against the table, kicking a chair. There was nothing to do about it but wait. She tried finding her magic, every day she tried. She never told Sodur of her failures, but he knew. He could read it on her face, and that made her more livid, knowing she was doing what he wanted her to do. She was his tool, his weapon, and she was powerless to be anything else. The Lady had given her the power, and if she wanted to help Kodu Riik, Reisil had to find the key to her magic, even if it played right into Sodur’s plots. Nor would avoiding their visits do any good. Juhrnus was content for now to wait until she was ready to explain what had happened between her and Sodur, but that patience would evaporate quickly if she tried to hide.
    Why didn’t she just tell him?
    Everything in her revolted at the thought. He’d side with her. He’d be as angry with Sodur as she was. But there was little comfort in knowing