Anais and the Broken War (The Blood Mage Chronicles Book 5) Read Free Page A

could find some boys to act as runners and talk with Borwin?”
    “I’ll do my best,” Fynn said, his eyes darting toward the door as if he was in a great hurry to depart.
    “Than that’s that,” Mediera said. “Sister Anais stays.”
    “Are you sure I shouldn’t go with Fynn? I could help him…” I wanted to do something. I wanted to get out of this room. I wasn’t accomplishing anything here.
    “Sister Anais, perhaps you should go and talk with Sister Zilla,” Jacarda suggested. “Sister Zilla is well informed on the requirements for entertaining, and I believe she’s on friendly terms with the kitchen staff,” Jacarda said. “Find her and the two of you can arrange dinner for tonight, for perhaps a dozen people, while Lady Mediera and I work out the invitation list.”
    “Tonight?” Mediera asked. “Do you think it’s necessary to have a dinner so soon.”
    We all looked at Gorman, waiting for him to answer–or for him to provide a direction.
    “It’s your decision,” Gorman said to Mediera. Again it was interesting that he was stepping back.  
    “Yes, it’s her decision,” Jacarda agreed, her jaw set in a hard line. “But, we are here to advise her. And my advice is to bring together what social leaders remain in Barriershire and to give them some confidence that we have things in hand.”
    “Cedric, what do you think?” Mediera asked.
    Cedric took a deep breath. “Jacarda’s suggestion sounds reasonable. It can’t hurt to have a dinner party.”
    “Okay,” Mediera said, shaking her head. “If you all insist upon it, I suppose it must be done.”
    Fynn stood. “I’ll go now. Hopefully, I’ll manage to rustle up a few runners. And I’ll speak with Borwin.”
    “And I’ll find Zilla,” I offered, grateful for the opportunity to escape.  
    As Fynn and I left, Gorman said to the others, “There’s another letter we need to discuss. It’s from one of the captains. He may cause us trouble. We need to be wary of him.”

    As I entered our bedchamber, Dahlia was installing Uthur into a carriage. His face was red, and dried tears stained his cheek. Tatiana sat on her bed, her nose in a book, and Zilla was nowhere to be seen.
    “I’m going to take him for a walk. He’s miserable,” Dahlia murmured. “Is that okay?”  
    “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, you know.” Her plan seemed reasonable. Uthur liked motion. Or at least, he cried less when he was being walked. I wished Dahlia could be a little less meek. But I imagined she had her own ghosts and didn’t need advice from me on how to behave.
    Dahlia shrugged as if she didn’t believe me. While I watched her push Uthur out of the room, my eyes stayed fixed on him. Every time he left my presence, I felt my heart ripping apart. Why did my bond to him have to be so strong? I forced myself to stay rooted in place and reminded myself that it would not be reasonable to rip Uthur away from the girl, even if that was what I wanted.
    “I’ve meant to talk with you about this, but you and I are so rarely alone,” Tatiana said, setting her book on a small table.  
    “About what?”
    “Your tie to Uthur.”
    “You know?”
    “It’s obvious.” Tatiana paused, slipping a stray silver hair beneath her white headdress. “And Mother Agnasia told me.”
    “I see.”
    “I wanted you to understand that being a part of the protectorate is more than just a connection to one person. The protectorate were warriors during the early days of the sisterhood. Mother Agnasia and her set of mages bastardized it when they joined our order. They focused all of the power into the protection of a single person. But, it was never meant to be that way.”
    “Were they supposed to protect the sisters?”
    “Yes. But more than that. They were expected to protect the community as a whole. More to the point, they protected humanity.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I’ve read the histories. If you had more time at your disposal, I would