Free The Goblin Gate by Hilari Bell

ears swiveled. His mother’s voice echoed in his memory:…. unreasonable to expect him to understand, when you and I and Tobin have all been lying to him from the very start. She was right. His father had no idea what was going on—no wonder he was drawing false conclusions. He must have noticed that Jeriah wasn’t grieving for Tobin as the others were. As he would have been, if he still thought his brother was going to die. That was the source of his father’s…disgusting conclusions.
    I should tell him the truth. Even as Jeriah thought it, anger swamped him. After what he’d said this morning, the old man could whistle for the truth!
    He thought of going south and rejoining his old commander. Of finding some way to repel the barbarians and covering himself with glory and honor.
    He thought of going north, of becoming one of the explorers who were mapping the vast woodlands, and never setting eyes on his family again.
    He thought of rescuing Tobin and bringing him back, of his father praising Jeriah’s courage with tears of joy streaming down his face.
    But even as he thought about it, Jeriah knew that all of those plans were…lightweight. In order to rescue Tobin Jeriah had to get the spell notes from Master Lazur, which meant he had to have his father’s permission to return to the priest’s service, and that meant he had to go home. He swore softly and turned Glory around.
    It was midmorning when Jeriah rode into the stable yard and dismounted. His father would be out on the land now—he’d planned to spend the day on the other side of the river.So with luck, Jeriah thought, he might avoid his whole family till dinner. He unsaddled Glory, rubbed her down, and led her back to her stall…where he found Sennahra waiting for him.
    “I saved you some breakfast.” She put down her book and gestured at the covered basket by her side.
    “How did you know…?”
    “Everyone with a room on that side of the house knows. You were both yelling.”
    She stood and brushed the straw from her skirt, waiting while he fetched water and oats for Glory. Then she led the way up the ladder to the loft, which had always been their place for secret councils. It smelled of hay, dust, and peaceful memories, and Jeriah’s stomach rumbled.
    Senna snagged an apple from the basket, and it occurred to Jeriah that neither of the girls seemed to be grieving much. He’d noticed his mother spending a lot of time with them. What lies was she telling now? He didn’t have the nerve to ask.
    “Father didn’t mean it,” Sennahra said. “You must know that. He’s hurting, so he was looking for someone to hurt back. I’ve been tiptoeing around him for days.”
    “I know, but he was so…so…” Rummaging through the basket was a good excuse to conceal his expression. Only when he found half a cold meat pie did Jeriah realize he was hungry. “You don’t believe I got Tobin lost deliberately, do you?”
    “That,” said his sister judicially, “is probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say. And you say a lot of stupid things.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Don’t mention it.”
    They grinned at each other; then she sobered. “Jeri, there’s something I have to know. If we hadn’t locked you up like mother wanted would…would it have turned out differently for Tobin?”
    Jeriah’s mind filled with soothing words; but even though Senna was a horrible liar herself, she could frequently tell when he was lying.
    “I don’t know. There’s no way to know what might have happened.”
    Tears rose in Senna’s eyes, but she blinked them back. Her courage was more moving than if she’d let them fall, and the need to tell her the truth welled up in Jeriah’s heart. But Senna would insist on trying to help him. Besides, to give her hope and then have Tobin die after all would be horrible. For himself, Jeriah had no fear of failure—if he couldn’t bring his brother home, he wouldn’t be coming back from the Otherworld