Free Souls of Aredyrah 3 - The Taking of the Dawn by Tracy A. Akers

then with their features. Usually—” He stopped mid-sentence, as
if realizing he had crossed into a subject he did not wish to
discuss.
    “What happens to the children with those
features, uncle?” Dayn asked.
    “Never ye mind. It’s none o’ your
concern.”
    “Of course it’s my concern. I have those
features, don’t I?”
    Haskel frowned. “Very well. The children are
put to rest most times.”
    Dayn reined his horse to a halt. “They are killed ?”
    Haskel stopped alongside him. “Most times,
aye. But not always.”
    “You mean Eyan.”
    “I argued that he had to be weeded out, for
the sake o’ the clan, but Vania refused to consider it.”
    “That’s what my mother did for me, too.”
    “What?” Haskel asked with confusion.
    “My real mother is Brina, and my father was
Mahon. In Tearia, the people strive for purity, just like the clans
are doing here.” Dayn pulled back his collar, revealing his
birthmark. “This mark made me impure, so I was sentenced to die.
Brina was a royal and had no choice. She told Mahon she would kill
me herself, but instead she smuggled me to the mountains to ask the
gods to cure me. When she met Fa—I mean Gorman—she thought he was a
god. He made her think he was by saying he would cure me and return
me to her in a year’s time.” Dayn paused. “But you know all that,
don’t you.”
    Haskel nodded.
    Dayn felt resentment resurfacing. “So Gorman
lied to her, and stole me, and never took me back like he promised.
And while he was happy, and his wife was happy, I was miserable,
and my real mother was even more miserable. What right did he
have?”
    “Sounds to me like he saved your life.”
    “What?”
    “I said, it sounds to me like he saved your
life. What would have happened to ye if Brina hadn’t turned ye over
to him in the cave?”
    “I—I don’t know.”
    “I think ye do.”
    Dayn clenched his jaw, fighting the chink
that Haskel had just put in his mettle. But before he could form a
retort, Haskel said, “We’re home, boy. Best not say anythin’ about
all this, at least not yet.”
    Dayn’s eyes shot forward, surprised to see
the house just ahead. It had seemed to take an eternity to reach
the springs when he’d stormed out earlier, but strangely, only
moments to get back.
    As they drew nearer, he noticed a glow
radiating through the foggy windowpanes. No doubt the family was
waiting up for them. How in the world was he going to keep what he
had learned tonight a secret? His mother would be easy to fool, and
Vania and Eyan were Haskel’s problem, but Alicine? She could read
him like parchment, and he knew the moment he entered the door, the
events of the evening would be written all over his face. How could
he keep from her the fact that he was even less welcome than he had
originally anticipated, and that now, more than ever, he had to
leave this place, and leave it for good.
     
    Back to ToC

Chapter 7: Affairs of the Heart
     
    H askel shoved open
the door and ushered Dayn inside. Vania and Morna rose from their
chairs by the hearth, while Eyan sat upright in his bed, blinking
at the sudden commotion.
    “Good, we can go to bed now,” Alicine
mumbled. She lifted her head from her arms that were resting,
criss-crossed, atop the table.
    “Dayn—” Morna began, but Haskel silenced her
with a wave of his hand. “Let the boy get some rest,” he said.
“There’ll be time for talk later.”
    Morna pointed Dayn to a pallet that she had
arranged for him near the fire. “Here son. You can settle yourself
here.”
    “I’m not tired,” Dayn said.
    “I’ll heat ye some tea,” Vania said, hustling
over to the kitchen counter. She lifted the lid from the tea
kettle, then reached up and pulled a tiny vial from the shelf. “A
little somethin’ extra to take off the chill,” she said with a
wink. After adding a dash of its contents to the kettle, she hung
it over the fire and motioned Dayn to a chair by the hearth. “There
now, sit yourself