Free Tribe: The Red Hand (Tribe Series Book 1) by Kaelyn Ross

uneasy expression of meeting a dangerous stranger back on her face.
    Kestrel frowned. “What’s the matter with you?”
    Before Tessa could say anything, Kestrel’s father burst into the room, followed by Aiden.
    “Kes!” Elder Matthias boomed, his voice far larger than his slender frame suggested possible. Displaying none of his wife’s caution, he wrapped Kestrel in a smothering hug. His dark beard—short, bristly, and streaked with white—tickled her cheek, and his long hair momentarily obscured her sight.
    “Careful,” Tessa chided. “You’ll tear her wounds.”
    “Nonsense, woman!” Matthias said. “Our daughter has proven she’s far stronger than any of us ever imagined.” He cast a sidelong glance at Aiden. “Isn’t that right, son?”
    Aiden lowered his head. “She made a liar out of me,” he said in an abashed tone so sincere that Kestrel almost believed it. When he looked up, however, the familiar teasing light danced in his eyes. It seemed that only Kestrel noticed. “Had I known my little sister was so fearsome, I would’ve demanded that the Elders allow her to perform the rite of the Kill two years ago.”
    Matthias arched a quizzical eyebrow. “And risk losing the honor of being the youngest Red Hand?”
    Aiden offered a shrug and a modest half-smile.
    “You’ve grown much, my son, from the boy you were. I’m proud of you.”
    Tessa turned to her husband. “We must let her rest.”
    “I’m ready for the ceremony,” Kestrel said.
    Matthias stroked his chin. “If you feel as well as you say, then tomorrow is soon enough—after all, there are preparations to be made.”
    Tessa shook her head. “Even that is too soon!”
    Kestrel’s father glanced at his daughter. “You have proven yourself already, so there is no need to hurry things.”
    Kestrel looked to Aiden’s smirking face, and her anger flared. “I will stand beneath the Bone Tree tonight ,” she announced.
    “So be it,” Matthias said, chest puffed with pride. “Now, daughter, while the day is young, get some sleep. You will need it.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Kestrel tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she thought about the Bone Tree ceremony and all the people gathering to watch her, and they would pop back open.
    Eventually she climbed out of bed, dressed herself in the unadorned doeskin dress her mother had made especially for the occasion, and a pair of soft leather slippers. Last, she brushed and braided her dark hair.
    It felt good to move around, but the pull of her stitches when she turned or twisted worried her. Kestrel decided there was no changing her mind. By now, her family and the rest of the villagers were already preparing for the festivities that would follow the ceremony. Soon, they would begin looking for her arrival.
    Knowing what was required made her skin crawl. Tonight everyone you know will be there watching—
    Kestrel closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and banished all thoughts about what was coming.
    For now, it worked.
    When she opened her eyes and glanced around the bedroom, she felt as if she was forgetting something. Her father would bring the weapons she needed, along with the bones of her Kill, so other than her clothes and herself, there was nothing else to take.
    “You’re stalling,” she told herself, and almost laughed.
    When she had left the village as a Potential, she had done so with much more enthusiasm, and certainly no hesitation. She told herself she had nothing to fear now, but she could not quite believe it. What she would have to do at the Bone Tree ceremony had always terrified her more than anything else about becoming a Red Hand. Until recently, though, those requirements had always seemed distant, trials that were far beyond tomorrow or the next day.
    Now she was speeding toward the final moments, and she felt more scared than ever. Her heart had not beaten so hard, nor had her hands shook so much, when she faced the lion or