Free The Seekers of Fire by Lynna Merrill

broke mine."
    And fortunately it was not broken in advance. He tried to stiffen his chest and breathe slowly, giving some rest to his broken ribs. His limbs were bruised but mostly intact, although the brutal pain in his head made it somewhat difficult to control them. Which was not to be tolerated. Rianor removed one hand from around the girl and focused his mind first on that hand's fingers and then, like Fight Master Keitaro had taught him, gradually relaxed each muscle up to the shoulder until his arm felt his again.
    Linden raised her face towards his. In the dim light her eyes were a darker shade of amber, glassy and expressionless, watching him, but seeing something else.
    "They say that seeing things that do not exist is even worse than aberrant thoughts," she said softly, "and that even Mentors cannot save you. Bers might, but no one knows if even they can. The Lost Ones are eating your quintessence, they say, so you stop seeing the world and then start seeing another one, an illusion. Evil that is not even real."
    She trembled, and the veil before her eyes slowly lifted, making them once again smart, alive, and hurt. "Have you heard that, or is it something offered only to commoners? How can something that is not real be evil? Or good, for that matter. So I thought, as a Scientist, before. But I was not a Scientist at the moment when I saw what you did not. I was a scared fool. And I was not a scared fool earlier. I could control myself when you were in danger—when I fought her earlier—so how can just seeing something make me lose control now?"
    "Emotions build upon each other. You have been through a lot in the last four days, without a chance to recuperate."
    Two tears glistened on her eyelashes, breaking the amber glow in an intricate pattern. Before he could think about it, Rianor gently brushed them away, not wishing for the Mentors any more.
    "Linde. Tell me what I am not seeing." He looked at the bruises on her face and neck. "And what happened before that. After that, try to not think much. Rest a little if you can, and leave everything to me. I will find a way out. I have survived bad situations before."
    "So you have? This is good to know. It is good to know something about you, my lord Rianor. Or, should I say, my lord stranger." The amber eyes met his and held. " You obviously know things about me, since you are mentioning the last four days. Then you know that I, too, have survived bad situations. And you want me to not think."
    She shook her head, wet hair slapping cheeks already wet from new tears. "It would be convenient if I did not think, would it not? So that I did not possibly think of what you might do to me? Why did you fight for me tonight, my lord? Why did you take me with you? Are you a lord at all? Or, are you with the Bers? The nonexistent Master only knows how much compromising evidence you have gathered about me—more than enough, in any case!"
    The whip cut on his face chose that moment to start bleeding again. Rianor sighed, wishing that the blood would at least not get in his eyes like this, and that whatever hammered his forehead from the inside would stop. His vision blurred and his body quivered, and it was all he could do to not lean over Linden for support.
    "You—" He stopped and swallowed, fighting a sudden surge of nausea. But he must not sit or lie down now. He was not sure whether he would be able to rise after that. He had to leave this place as soon as possible and get to Qynnsent—he had to get her to Qynnsent. He was not prepared for having her there yet, but he would deal with it. He would have to deal with the Bers, too. Rianor clenched his jaw at the thought of them, which only made his wound bleed harder.
    And here she was, talking to him about them, fearing him, thinking him to be one of them ... He tried to control his rising anger with one of Master Keitaro's exercises but failed.
    "You, headstrong—heedless—scatterminded woman, do you think that I would